GENERAL INTEREST TOPIC
The First United States Prestressed Masonry Structures
Richard M. Bennett1
Today, prestressed concrete construction is a very
widely used method of both bridge and building con-
struction. Prestressed construction is a little over fifty
years old, with the first prestressed concrete structure
in the United States being the Walnut Lane Bridge in
Philadelphia, which was completed in 1951 [Steinman
and Watson (1957)]. However, the Walnut Lane Bridge
was not the first prestressed bridge to be opened to traf-
fic. Almost a year earlier, a small three-span prestressed
bridge was opened to traffic in Madison County, Ten-
nessee [- 1951a; - 1951b]. This bridge was constructed
of prestressed masonry, and was completed in October,
1950, nearly a year before the Walnut Lane Bridge. The
Madison County bridge is still in use today. Prior to the
bridge, prestressed masonry was used for the bleachers of
the Fayetteville, TN high school football stadium, which
could arguably be the first prestressed masonry structure
in the United States. Shortly after the bridge was com-
pleted, the Doric Building was built in Nashville, TN
with a combination of prestressed concrete and masonry
beams. This structure is sometimes credited with being
the first “truly prestressed” building in the United States
[- 1951c]. The building is still being used today.
Despite the early beginnings of prestressed mason-
ry, it has not been widely used in the United States. The
first US design code for prestressed masonry structures
only appeared in 1999 [MSJC (1999)]. Although cur-
rently prestressed masonry is generally used for walls,
these early structures were beams. This paper recounts
the history of the first prestressed masonry buildings and
bridges in the United States through the examination of
three structures, the Fayetteville high school bleachers,
the Madison County bridge, and the Doric Building.
Construction techniques and the use of prestressed ma-
sonry are described. A brief history of the designer of
these structures, Ross Bryan, is also given.
EARLY PRESTRESSED MASONRY
Anderegg and Dalzell (1935) describe some of the
first tests on prestressed masonry. Beams were construct-
ed of prestressed masonry and loaded to failure. Initially
holes were drilled in solid clay bricks and high strength
1
TMS Member, Professor, Dept. of Civil and Envi-
ronmental Engineering, The University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN
TMS Journal November 2008
rods were passed through the holes and tightened to pro-
vide the prestress. Special hollow clay tile units were also
developed in which the rods passed through the cores. The
rods had a yield strength of 690 MPa (100 ksi) and were
stressed to between 50 and 70% of the yield strength.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, various masonry
floor systems were being developed and used. At least one
of these was called prestressed masonry, although the stress
levels in the reinforcing were probably not high enough
to maintain a prestressed force after losses. This was the
Strestcrete system developed in California [Nordberg
(1950)]. This system was displayed at the 1949 National
Concrete Masonry Association convention. It utilized spe-
cial concrete masonry units that were joined with external
reinforcing bars. The mating surfaces of the units were
ground to provide for bearing on one another. The rein-
forcing bars were stressed to 117 MPa (17 ksi) through the
use of a calibrated torque wrench. The system was used in
many different applications, including roofs, floors, grain
bins walls, and columns for a heavy traveling crane.
The first prestressed masonry structures to use high-
strength prestressing wire were the structures described
in this paper. Special block units were used, and the pre-
stressing strands were 14 mm (0.6 in.) 7-wire strands
made by John A. Roebling’s Sons Co. The strands were
tensioned to 116 kN (26 kips), resulting in an initial ten-
sile stress of 862 MPa (125 ksi) in the strands.
EARLY PRESTRESSED MASONRY
DESIGN
The first prestressed masonry structures were de-
signed by the firm of Bryan and Dozier Consulting En-
gineers. The first partner, Mr. Ross Bryan, received a BS
degree in civil engineering from the University of Kan-
sas in 1933. He was employed by the Kansas Highway
Department, and then by the Panama Canal Department.
During World War II he served in the Civil Engineering
Corps of the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific. In 1949, he
formed a partnership with Culver Dozier, a graduate of
The University of Tennessee, and established the firm of
Bryan and Dozier Consulting Engineers. The firm initially
was composed of only the two engineers, and was started
with $500 of capital. It was at this time that Mr. Bryan
started designing prestressed masonry structures. Bryan
and Dozier Consulting Engineers was dissolved in 1952
67
when each partner set up their own private practice. Mr.
Bryan was president of Ross H. Bryan Inc., Consulting
Engineers, until his retirement in 1977. Mr. Bryan passed
away in 2003 at the age of 92.
Mr. Bryan became aware of prestressed concrete when
he returned from World War II. He had some knowledge
of precasting, and had applied for a job with a leading pre-
cast fabricator after the war. Although he did not get the
job, he still had an interest in precasting. He read a book
by Gustave Magnel on prestressing, and he began to think
of ways to apply the advantages of prestressing to precast
systems. Mr. Bryan noted that in a 15 year period from
1936 to 1951, the cost of concrete being placed in bridge
superstructures had increased by 230%, while the cost of
machine made concrete block had increased by only 10%
[Bryan and Dozier (1951)]. Bryan and Dozier thus felt that
there would be economic possibilities of using machine
made concrete units in prestressed construction. The blocks
are also lighter and more flexible than concrete.
Mr. Bryan began experimenting with concrete blocks
in the basement of the consulting engineer’s office build-
ing. He worked with the Nashville Breeko Block Com-
pany to develop a prestressed system, and test beams were
made in the fall of 1949. The initial beams were made
with standard three-core concrete blocks. Existing mold
boxes were used for fabricating the units and changes
were limited to those which could be made for a minimum
of cost. The beams were made by threading the blocks
over the prestressing strands as construction proceeded.
The blocks were 197 mm (7  3/4 in.) long, with a 3.2 mm
(1/8 in.) mortar joint. To make the thin mortar joint, the
blocks were placed on a table which had projecting feet
Figure 1—Blocks Being Mortared Together to Form
a Beam
68
to fit in the cores. A mortar box was placed over the unit,
and it projected above the block by the thickness of the
mortar joints. A high-strength mortar was placed over the
unit and struck off to obtain the desired thickness. Spe-
cial end blocks were used to anchor the strands. To enable
the prestress strand to be draped, special depresser blocks
were used, and placed at approximately the third points
of the beam. All block units had a compressive strength
of 25.9 MPa (3,750 psi), and the mortar had a compres-
sive strength of 13.8 MPa (2,000 psi). Figure  1 shows
the blocks being laid for a beam, and Figure 2 shows the
beams being stressed.
THE FIRST UNITED STATES PRESTRESSED
MASONRY STRUCTURES
Fayetteville High School Stadium
The first prestressed masonry structure in the United
States was constructed in the summer of 1950, this being
the 1,525 seat football stadium bleachers at Fayetteville
high school (Figures 3 and 4). Bryan and Dozier obtained
the job because of their bid of about half the price of com-
parable reinforced concrete stands, and about the same as
prefabricated steel bleachers with wood treads and seats.
The cost was $7.64 per seat, compared to an estimated $15
to $17 for reinforced concrete. The structure was built on
site by nine workers in 32 days under the supervision of
Charles Lindsey, the high school coach (Bryan, 1979).
Figure 2—Prestressing of Concrete Masonry Block
Beams
Figure 3—Fayetteville Football Stadium
TMS Journal November 2008
Figure 4—Lifting Beams into Place for Football
Stadium
The bleacher span was 9.1 m (30 ft). Beams were
formed with machine-made nominal 200 mm long by
400 mm wide by 300 mm deep (8 in. by 16 in. by 12 in.)
three-core concrete blocks. Two 14 mm (0.6 in.) 7-wire
prestressing strands were used for each beam, these being
in the outer cores. An initial tension of 44 kN (10 kips)
was applied to each strand, resulting in a tensile stress of Figure 6—Original Sketches of Madison County
330 MPa (48 ksi) in the strands, and an average compres- Bridge (1in. = 25.4 mm, 1 ft = 0.3048 m)
sive stress of 1.4 MPa (200 psi) in the concrete blocks. The
next day the strands were tensioned to 116 kN (26 kips), used, except the sides of the blocks were brought in about
resulting in a tensile stress of 862 MPa (125 ksi) in the 40  mm (1.5 in.) to form a keyway for the composite slab
strands. The designers assumed 16% loss, and designed (Figure  5). The bridge had three simple spans, the end
the beam based on a prestress of 724 MPa (105 ksi) in the spans being 6.1 m (20.1 ft), and the center span being 8.8
strands. At mid-span, the prestress after losses resulted in m (28.8 ft). The original design sketch of the prestressed
zero stress at the top fiber of the beams, and a compres- beams is shown in Figure 6. Forty-five prestressed beams
sive stress of 6.5 MPa (940 psi) in the bottom fibers of the were used, with fifteen in each span. The beams were
beams under their own weight. made by the Madison County maintenance crew, and all
forty-five beams were built and prestressed in a little less
The fate of this structure is unknown, but it is be- than three days. As the beams were placed, transverse
lieved that the stands were torn down when a new high prestressing strands were threaded through holes in the
school was opened in 1980. blocks. Figure 7 shows the beams for an end span being
placed by a crane on the center span. A top slab was cast
Madison County Bridge on the beams using 21 MPa (3,000 psi) concrete. After
the slab had sufficiently cured, the transverse strands were
About the time the bleachers were being completed,
the county engineer for Madison County, TN became
aware of the project. He was looking for an economi-
cal bridge construction technique, and approached Ross
Bryan about using similar prestressed beams. The same
concrete blocks as used for the football stadium were

Figure 5—Cross-Section of Madison County Bridge Figure 7—Placing Bridge Beams for Madison County
(1 m = 3.281 ft) Bridge

TMS Journal November 2008 69

tensioned. High-early strength concrete was used for the
slab, so the bridge was opened on October 28, 1950, seven
days after casting the slab. The cost of the superstructure
was estimated to be about 20% less than for other types of
construction. Further details on this bridge and other similar
prestressed masonry bridges are in Bennett et al. (2002).
There are eleven existing prestressed masonry bridg-
es in Tennessee, including the original bridge in Madison
County. All of the bridges were constructed between 1950
and 1956. One of the bridges, in Knox County, is adjacent
to an urban yard waste mulching facility and receives sig-
nificant truck traffic. Based on state inspection records,
the superstructures of all the bridges are in good condi-
tion. A common problem with the bridges has been leach-
ing. There has also been some slight spalling and breaking
out of the corners of a few blocks in some of the bridges.
Several of the bridges have longitudinal cracks running
through the bottom of the blocks.
Doric Building
The first prestressed building floor slab was the Doric
Building in Nashville, TN, which was completed in Janu-
ary, 1952. The first floor was used by Kroger, and the sec-
ond floor was the meeting rooms of the Doric Masonic
Figure 8—New Masonry Blocks for Prestressed Masonry Beams (1 mm = 0.03937 in)
70
Lodge. The building has been renovated several times
since construction, and is still in use today.
The second floor was constructed of 200 mm (8 in.)
prestressed masonry block beams with a span of 6.1 m (20
ft) placed on cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete gird-
ers. The beams were similar to the Madison County bridge
beams, having an extended bottom flange. A 50  mm (2
in.) topping slab was added which was assumed to act
compositely with the beams and the girders. The floor was
designed for a 4,800 N/m2 (100 psf) live load. The roof
was constructed of 300 mm (12 in.) deep prestressed ma-
sonry beams with a span 13.7 m (45 ft), or a noteworthy
span to depth ratio of 45 [- 1951c].
NEW CONCRETE BLOCK
Shortly after the construction of the first prestressed
structures, the design of the concrete blocks was changed
to a block with two horizontal cores as shown in Figure 8
[- 1952b]. The prestressing strands were placed outside
the block cores to avoid having to thread the blocks over
the strand. A nominal 300 mm (12 in.) high block is shown
in Figure 8, but a nominal 400 mm (16 in.) high block was
also made for longer spans. The blocks were still 197 mm
(7 3/4 in.) long, but a thicker 6 mm (1/4 in.) mortar joint was
used. These new masonry units were used for all bridges
TMS Journal November 2008

Figure 9—Completed Prestressed Masonry Beam
constructed after the Madison County bridge. Figure  9
shows a typical beam before being shipped to the proj-
ect.
As with the vertical core blocks, special depresser
(now called positioning units), and end units were made
(Figure 8). Two types of end units were made. One was
for anchoring the strand. At the other end, a unit with a
semicircular groove was used as a dead end anchorage.
The cable terminals were quite expensive and eliminating
the use of terminals at one end provided cost savings. A
prestressing strand was anchored to one end, strung out-
side the blocks, around the end block, and then back to
the original anchoring block. Thus, only a single strand
was used for each beam, but created the force equivalent
to two strands. Sheet lead strips were placed in the cable
slots in the end and spacer blocks to minimize friction.
The casting of the top slab encased the strands in
these new block units. This resulted in several advantages.
• The ultimate strength of the beam was increased
by about 40%.
• The bond on the cable provided better crack con-
trol for the beams.
• The encasing of the strands provided better protec-
tion against corrosion.
Prestressed masonry beams were used in floor and
roof construction until about 1958 when the block beams
were replaced by precast pretensioned concrete members
[Bryan (1979)]. Two notable structures built with pre-
stressed masonry block beams are the Crosley Corpora-
tion manufacturing plant, which had a design live load of
12,000 N/m2 (250 psf), and the Wilkins Air Force Depot,
which has a roof area of 74,000 m2 (800,000 ft2).
CONCLUSIONS
This paper describes the history of the first prestressed
masonry structures in the United States. The early use of pre-
stressed masonry was for bridge and building beams, rather
than walls. Many of the features in modern prestressed ma-
TMS Journal November 2008
sonry structures were found in these early structures, such as
the use of both bonded and unbonded strands.
The durability of prestressed masonry is shown by
the existing condition of the early prestressed bridges. The
superstructures of these bridges remain in good condition
after over fifty years of service, even the first bridges with
a bare cable in an inaccessible location. Prestressed ma-
sonry has withstood the test of time.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A portion of this work was sponsored by the Tennes-
see Department of Transportation. This support is grate-
fully acknowledged. The author is grateful to Mr. Ed Mc-
Dougle, Ross Bryan Engineers, for providing access to
many of the early documents and pictures. The author also
appreciates the information provided by Mr. Ross Bryan
in a telephone conversation shortly before his passing.
REFERENCES
- (1951a), “Bridge Built of Blocks Strung Like Beads,” En-
gineering News Record, 146(3), pp. 39-42, January 18.
- (1951b), “Bridge of Distinction,” Engineering News Re-
cord, 146(3), p. 21, January 18.
- (1951c), “U. S. Progress in Prestressed Concrete,” Ar-
chitectural Record, 110(2), pp. 148-155.
- (1952a), “Prestressed Block Floors,” Architectural Fo-
rum, 97(4), p. 161.
- (1952b), “Improved Block Beams Cut Erection Costs,”
Engineering News Record, 148, pp. 52-53, March 20.
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Bryan, R. H. and Dozier, C. B., “Prestressed Concrete
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stitute of Technology, pp. 57-60, 1951.
71
Masonry Standards Joint Committee (MSJC), “Building Code
Requirements for Masonry Structures”, (ACI 530-99/ASCE
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Nordberg, B., “Prestressed Floor and Roof Slabs of Con-
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TMS Journal November 2008