Foster Bridge - Ann Arbor

The Foster Bridge over the Huron River.

The 1876 era metal truss Foster Bridge carries Maple Road over the Huron River at Huron River Drive. It was rehabilitated in 2003 after an organized effort led by the Citizens for Foster Bridge Conservancy.

References

MDOT

This bridge is one of two metal truss bridges in Michigan dating from 1876, making it one of the oldest in the state. The builder, the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio, was one of the most prolific nineteenth century metal truss bridge companies in the midwest, with numerous Michigan bridges.

Bridge to the Nineteenth Century: Can Bell Road's span be saved? 2006.

The other surviving bridges also served mill towns. Samuel Foster, a miller from Massachusetts, answered Dexter's invitation to work at his mill in Dexter. Eventually Foster started his own mill downstream, where Zeeb Road crosses the Huron; the village of Scio grew around it. Foster later built a second mill downstream at Maple Road. The settlement there, originally named Newport, became Foster's Station but was never very big. There was an iron bridge there as early as 1876.