Lisbon The town could soon end decades of confusion and controversy by becoming the sole owner of the Keystone Bridge, the oldest free-standing stone arch bridge in America.
Earlier this month, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a donation of the land off Lower Blissville Road that contains the Keystone Bridge. The land was donated to the town by relatives of Willard Hamilton, who last owned the bridge property. Hamilton died last year. The land is currently a part of his estate.
If the donation is approved, the town will take possession of a bridge whose ownership was in question for most of the second half of this century. Before the land is deeded to the town, it must get the approval of voters at a town meeting. A date has not been set.
It's a very nice gesture by the family, said First Selectman Thomas Sparkman. It will mean that we are finally the owner of a very unique piece of town history.
Located down a steep bank, about 50 feet east of Lower Blissville Road and 1,000 feet east of the Shetucket River, the Old Free Standing Arch Bridge, also known as the Keystone Bridge, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The bridge was constructed about 200 years ago to improve the stagecoach road between Norwich and Boston. It was made by packing a mold of soil six feet high, 10 feet wide, and 20 feet long. Then, stones were set into the mold. Overtime, as water washed away the soil, the keystones fell into place.
The bridge became obsolete with the advent of cars. Eventually, it was obscured by woods after the state Department of Transportation, in its planning and construction of Route 12 in 1913, decided to lay the new highway 40 feet away from the bridge.
In a history of the bridge, written in the 1980s, former Town Historian Richard Hermann said a crane operator working near the bridge in 1979 nearly destroyed the stone span. Hermann said the foreman yelled at the crane operator that if he destroyed the bridge he would go to jail.
For the last 30 years, several residents have owned the bridge. Before Hamilton, it was owned by George Wickham, who purchased it from Paul Vasington. But the town has maintained the bridge for decades by keeping new growth, roots, and soil from the rocks.
In the 1970s, controversy over the bridge's ownership came to a head when Wickham proposed removing it.
With the construction of new roads in the area and archaic maps, there were conflicting versions of where property boundaries near the bridge existed. Town officials claimed that the town owned it, but Wickham also claimed ownership.
The two sides went to court and a judge ruled that the bridge was privately owned by Wickham. But through an agreement between the town and Wickham, and later Hamilton, the town has maintained it in hopes of preserving it.
If voters approve the donation, Sparkman said the town will continue to maintain it.
