B & O Railroad's Oliver Viaduct across Main St., Ellicott City

The Baltimore-Frederick Turnpike went down Ellicott's Mills Main Street and the trains had to cross over it, so the Oliver Viaduct (stone 3 arch bridge) was built.  However, the flood of 1868 destroyed two of the arches. Later they were replaced with a metal span which now reads Ellicott City.

The bridge was named after one of the founders and director, Robert Oliver (c1759-1834).  He was a wealthy merchant in Baltimore, married Elizabeth Thomas, and bought Oakland Manor (Columbia, Md.) in 1826.  According to the B & O Museum website: "The railroad replaced the Viaduct’s arches that crossed Main Street in 1868 and widened them again from 1928-1931."

ELLICOTT CITY on the bridge -

The remaining original arch of the Oliver Viaduct -

The cornerstone (on bottom) placed by a Mason reads A.L. 5829 /  A.D. 1829, the other stones show holes from the quarry.  A.D. is the year, but A. L. is also Latin, for Year of the Light which included the 4000 years before Christ when some thought that the world was made... thus adding 4000 to 1829, is 5829.

The four stone viaducts built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 1829-1836 - Carrollton Viaduct HERE; Thomas Viaduct HERE, Patterson Viaduct HERE and Oliver Viaduct.

Robert Oliver, Merchant of Baltimore 1783-1819 by Stuart Weems Bruchey.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1946  411p  part of Johns Hopkins U Studies in historical and political science 74 #1.  About the business side, very little personal info.

©2016 Patricia Bixler Reber
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