A couple miles from our home, stands historic Savage Mill, a 19th century textile mill between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington DC. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is restored and adapted into a 175,000 square foot retail space. Beside the Mill, a historic iron railroad bridge survives: the first Bollman Truss built in 1850 to replace a wooden bridge.

Though only spanning 76 feet, Wendel Bollman's design—using a material which had previously failed spectacularly—was revolutionary. In 1851 Bollman designed iron bridges to replace wooden bridges at Bladensburg and Harper's Ferry and changed railroad history forever.