See the notation on the second image of this post. It identifies the photograph as Marsh and the location as McCarthy’s Bridge. My questions: is that bridge still standing? What car is that parked on the bridge? What are those other bridge spans and other structures (guard gate ends?) in the background? Click here for…
See the notation on the second image of this post. It identifies the photograph as Marsh and the location as McCarthy’s Bridge. My questions: is that bridge still standing? What car is that parked on the bridge? What are those other bridge spans and other structures (guard gate ends?) in the background?
Click here for another image by Marsh, this one in Buffalo harbor 1916.
Hello Will,
Very interesting photograph. I am perplexed on the location as Albion. The big heavy-duty bridge in the background is a railroad bridge, a New York Central bridge, but of what line? Looking at Google Earth view, the current rail line at Albion, which is still in operation, stays well south of the Barge Canal going east toward Rochester and west to Lockport, where the old NYC RR line goes over the Canal on the “upside down bridge”. However, a lot can change in 112 years! There does seem to be a guard gate on this side of the railroad bridge. I did a quick search of “McCarthy’s Bridge” and came up short. Nice the photographer Marsh dated and time stamped the image.
Perhaps this view is well east of Albion?
Eric Johnson
This scene is almost literally in my back yard. It’s a westward looking view of the Cartersville guard gate between Bushnell’s Basin and Pittsford. The double span bridge in the background carried the Auburn Branch of the New York Central railroad over the Canal, and it’s still under construction in this photo. The bridge in the foreground carried Marsh Road over the Barge Canal until it was dismantled and the steel recycled for the war effort in the early 1940s. To this day, the northern abutment remains to mark the location of the span. I’ve never before seen it referred to as “McCarthy’s Bridge”.
Lee– Thanks much for helping figure out where this is, that the caption was wrong. Would it be possible to photograph this scene in 2026 from the same standpoint the photographer used in 1914?
Earlier I wondered whether that scene could be photographed today. from that angle the answer is no because of trees and ground cover. A drone might be able to get the area from that vantage point but not from ground level. Here’s the rail bridge https://www.facebook.com/groups/1576908292628997/posts/1911199019199921/
and here’s the guard gate .15 of a mile away. https://eriecanalway.org/application/files/3415/5535/4052/3_WTGuide_Erie_RochestertoSyracuse_p80-127.pdf
Dispatches from the Samuel Center 
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