Fairmount Park Bridge. This bridge was designed by Charles Ellet, and opened across the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia in 1842. It was the first successful wire suspension bridge erected in the United States. Ellet designed the structure with the assistance of John Roebling, but the two disagreed over the type of wire cables to be used, and Ellet completed the bridge by himself.

Niagara Falls Bridge. Several bridges have spanned the Niagara River just below the famous Falls, connecting the cities of Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Niagara Falls, Ont. The first was a wooden suspension bridge, designed and built by Charles Ellet.* Construction began in 1847, after a kite was used to bring the first line across the river. The bridge was opened to traffic in August 1848. The 8-foot wide bridge was suspended from four cables which were supported by two eighty-foot wooden towers on each side of the river. The second, a suspension bridge designed both for railroad and carriage traffic, was begun in September 1852 and opened use in March 1855. It was designed and constructed by John A. Roebling.* The bridge had a span of 821 feet, 4 inches, and a median elevation above the river of 245 feet. Two sixty-foot towers on either side of the river supported the four cables from which the bridge was suspended. This bridge was renovated in 1886 to enable it to supported heavier rail traffic. The third bridge, a steel arch bridge, was designed by the man who had supervised the renovation of Roebling's bridge, Leffert Lefferts Buck.* This bridge, a steel arch structure, was completed in 1897 and is still in use.

Pecos River Bridge. The 1892 high bridge, replace an earlier bridge downriver, and was meant to shorten the rail line operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was built by the Phoenix Bridge Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and was of the metal viaduct style with cantilever center sections. It was supported by twenty-four towers and had a total length of 2,180 feet. The rails stood 321 feet above the river. The bridge was thus the highest railroad bridge in North America and the third highest in the world . It was reinforced several times and finally replaced at the time of World War II when a stronger structure was needed.

Wheeling Suspension Bridge. The original Wheeling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River in West Virginia was designed by Charles Ellet*, Jr. and was completed in 1849, and had a span of 1010 feet, for several years the longest clear span in the world. The bridge deck was suspended by twelve iron cables. In 1854 the bridge collapsed in a wind storm, and was reconstructed in 1859. At that time the timber trusses were reinforced with cast iron joint fittings and wrought iron vertical tension rods. In 1872, auxiliary stay cables were added by Washington Roebling.* Other modernizations were completed in the 20th century and the bridge remains in use.