The earliest bridges in North America were made of wood, which was abundant and cheaper than stone or masonry.

[1] In 1830, Stephen Harriman Long received a patent for an all-wood parallel chord truss bridge.

[4] The first Howe truss ever built was a single-lane, 75-foot (23 m) long bridge in Connecticut carrying a road.

[14] (Lower chord beams may have eyes on each end, in which case they are fastened together with bolts, pins, or rivets.

)[1] In wooden trusses, cotters and iron bolts are used every 4 feet (1.2 m) to connect the beams of the upper chord to one another.

[13][14] The individual small beams which make up a parallel in a chord are separated along their long side by a space equal to the diameter of the vertical posts,[13] usually about 1 inch (25 mm).

[13] Vertical posts connect the upper and lower chords, and divide the truss into panels.

[18] These are straight and round,[1] slightly reduced in circumference at the ends, and a screw thread added.

[18] The vertical usually passes through the center of the angle block[1] and then through space left in the upper and lower chord.

Special plates or washers of wood or metal are used to help distribute the stress induced by the vertical post onto the chords.

[13] They are placed in the same plane as the chord,[14] are generally uniform in size,[17] and should have a thickness one beam less than a brace.

[15] The ends of the braces and counter-braces should cut or cast to rest squarely against the angle block.

Alternatively, a hole may be drilled in the lug and brace/counter-brace and a dowel inserted to hold the beam in place.

[14] Two or more holes are cast through the center of the angle block, to allow the vertical posts to pass through and be anchored on the other side of the chord.

[12] The upper chord does not extend past the portal[17] (the space formed by the last four vertical posts at either end of the bridge).

[17] Struts are used to connect the two parallels of the chords to prevent lateral bending and reduce vibration.

[21] X-braces,[h] usually made of slender metal rods with threaded ends, are installed between vertical posts to help reduce sway.

If they are placed somewhere mid-panel, the chord must be reinforced to resist bending, buckling, and shear stress.

In practice, most wood stringers are 16 inches (410 mm) in width due to limitations in milling.

This gives the Howe truss a level of redundancy which allows it to withstand excessive loading (such as the loss of a panel due to collision).

During its initial construction, the diagonals are connected only loosely to the joints, and rely on prestressing, done at a later stage, to perform correctly.

Both the vertical posts and braces at the end of the bridge suffer the highest amount of stress.

[12] Because of the stress placed on the bridge, the Howe truss is suitable for spans 150 feet (46 m) in length or less.

The wooden pieces can be designed using little but a steel square and scratch awl, and the truss can be framed using only an adze, auger, and saw.

[21] The development of the Pratt and Howe trusses spurred the construction of iron bridges in the United States.

The simple design, ease of manufacture, and ease of construction of the Pratt and Howe trusses spurred Benjamin Henry Latrobe II, chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, to build large numbers of iron bridges.

This meant most iron bridges erected prior to the American Civil War were located in the South.

The only maintenance a Howe truss requires is adjustment of the nuts on the vertical posts to equalize strain.

[31][32] Iron, however, was the preferred bridge for automobile and railroads, and the Howe truss did not adapt well to all-iron construction.