National Register of Historic Places

Porter Hollow Embankment and Culvert

Algoma Township, Kent County, Michigan
Listed
September 23, 2001
Type
Structure
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
01001018

About this property

The Porter Hollow Embankment and Culvert, also known as the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad Culvert, is a stone bridge and trestle over the Stegman Creek along the White Pine Trail in Algoma Township, Michigan. The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad completed its railway through Algoma Township in 1867. Porter Hollow was an unincorporated community along this route, about 3 miles north of Rockford. At Porter Hollow the railroad built a large wooden trestle over Stegman Creek, then known as Wicked Creek. In 1883 a flood damaged the trestle, and a local farmer, James House, collected field stones to build the current trestle over the creek. The railroad ceased operations in 1985, and in the 1990s the Michigan Department of Natural Resources redeveloped the railroad right-of-way into a paved hiking and bicycling trail known as the White Pine Trail. That stone bridge withstood the rigors of railroad use for nearly a century, and it is in good condition today. The trestle is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a key bridge along the White Pine Trail. The Algoma Township Trestle Culvert was designated as a Michigan Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2005. The Porter Hollow embankment is a 1400-foot-long earth structure, which contains a stone arch culvert passing over Stegman Creek. The culvert is made of cut fieldstone, and measures nineteen feet in width, seventy-five feet in length, and passes about nineteen feet above the water level in the creek below. The stonework rises six feet above the top of the arch, and continues onto wingwalls at each end. The top of the culvert is blacktopped as part of the trail. An unusual feature of the culvert is that the bed of the creek below the culvert is lined with wooden planks.

Location

Algoma Township, Kent County, Michigan
43.16593, -85.56692

Categories

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National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Questions about this property

When was Porter Hollow Embankment and Culvert listed on the National Register?

Porter Hollow Embankment and Culvert was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 2001.

What type of historic resource is Porter Hollow Embankment and Culvert?

Porter Hollow Embankment and Culvert is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Porter Hollow Embankment and Culvert?

The period of significance for Porter Hollow Embankment and Culvert is recorded as the industrial era.

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