The Pan-American Bridge Company was located along the Big Four Railroad in New Castle. Photo courtesy New Castle: A Pictorial History.

By DARREL RADFORD
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They were there when Jonathan Maxwell and Benjamin Briscoe wanted to build the largest automobile factory in the world. The Honey Bee interurban line would have never made so many trips between New Castle and Indianapolis without them.

From New York state to Puget Sound, Wash., their sturdy reputation continued to build for 50 years.

And when the country needed them in World War II, the company’s employees came through.

Today, the Pan-American Bridge Company is just a memory, but its legacy lives on. Motorists of the past who crossed bridges in Kentucky, Missouri, Georgia, Alabama or Texas or attended school locally at Mount Summit, Westwood, Lewisville, Straughn, Mooreland or Greensboro have benefitted from the local company’s expertise.

Located at the northwestern part of New Castle along the Big Four Railroad, the company was founded in 1902 and named for the Pan-American Exposition that was being held in Buffalo, New York, at the time.

Passengers who rode the Honey Bee Interurban line had Pan-American Bridge Company to thank. The company fabricated several of the beams carrying the train between New Castle and Indianapolis.

Names of those involved read like a who’s who of New Castle – Jennings, Byrket, Goodwin, Bond.

One of its first big jobs was supplying materials to build the Maxwell-Briscoe Automobile Factory in the early 1900s. More than 2,000 tons of steel columns, girders and trusses were hauled to the factory site. It took about 1,000 wagon loads to deliver it all.

The company played an important role in World War II – over and over again.

In the Pan-American Bridge Company’s “Golden Anniversary” book highlighting its history, the war stories are told, describing the trials, tribulations and ultimate triumph of Pan-American’s efforts to send a central mixing plant to help the allies.

“This was ordered in December 1941; shipped in January 1942; reordered February 1942; shipped a second time in March; reordered in April; and shipped again the first of May” the book said. “Several years later, we find the first bin was sunk off the Atlantic Coast; the second one near the Azores Islands; the third bin reached its destination on the Persian Gulf.

“This Plant was used to pour a landing field so supplies could be taken in back of the Black Sea to help Russia,” the book continued. “It is our understanding that much of this material was used by the Russians at Stalingrad where the German push to East was stopped.”

The Pan-American Bridge Company’s materials were also vital in repairing many of the battleships damaged in the Pearl Harbor raid, according to Pfeffer. “Many of the battleships were repaired in this dry dock,” the book reported.

Elsewhere the company was responsible for:

— Many state highway bridges

— A power station in Crawfordsville

— The 2nd National Bank building in Cincinnati, Ohio

— An amphitheater for the Fayette County Fair in 1909

— Several bridges in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Texas

— The grandstand for the trotting track in Lexington, Ky.

— A tramway that carried sight-seers to the top of Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire.

Some of New Castle’s industries and institutions are still standing on the company’s reputation today. Literally.

The New Castle Post Office, Castle Theatre and the Henry County Courthouse all have Pan American Bridge Company materials. Castle Place One – better known to long-time local residents as the old Sears Building – is a product of Pan-American Bridge Company skill.

The company has been responsible for lots of school construction in Henry County over the years. Mooreland, Greensboro, Lewisville, Straughn and New Lisbon schools all shared that in common.

The old New Castle High School on Walnut Street has stood the test of time and is still in use, thanks to materials provided by the Pan American Bridge Company.

Before it was torn down recently, the old Kresge’s building downtown also was built in part with Pan-American ingenuity.

The company even merited a mention in Time Magazine in 1948.

“We received a contract for the fabrication of Orient Mine No. 3 at West Frankfort, Ill., from the Chicago Wilmington and Franklin Coal Company. This was an unusually large job taking approximately six months to complete. A rubber belt 42 inches wide and approximately 3,300 feet long was fabricated to bring coal to the surface.”

Darrel Radford is a staff writer for The Courier-Times and a board member for The Henry County Historical Society. For more information on the museum, visit www.henrycountyhs.org or call director Elizabeth Edstene at 765-529-4028.