Whipple Road Bridge

The Whipple Road bridge crosses the Shawsheen River at the junction of Whipple Road and Brown Street, on the Billerica-Wilmington line. In the early twentieth century it was called the Sam Brown or Joe Brown bridge.

In 1928 the selectmen reported that "Sam Brown bridge at the junction of Whipple Road and Brown Streets" was in unsafe condition; "Bridge Unsafe" signs had been put up and replaced three times. In 1929 Town Meeting voted $3,000, matched by Wilmington, "to replace the Joe Brown Bridge." The work went badly: in 1930 "the Samuel Brown Bridge affair is still unsettled due to the failure of the Catanese Construction Company," and the matter went to litigation. The state bridge inventory dates the bridge to 1930.

The bridge was damaged in the floods of the spring of 2010 and closed. It was rebuilt as a prestressed concrete slab bridge and reopened in September 2012.

References

1. Annual Report 1928: the Sam Brown bridge at Whipple Road and Brown Street in unsafe condition
2. Annual Report 1929: Article 27, $3,000 to replace the Joe Brown Bridge with Wilmington
3. Annual Report 1930: the Samuel Brown Bridge affair and the failure of the Catanese Construction Company
4. Patch, 2012: Brown Street / Whipple Road bridge opens for traffic