Jessup Covered Bridge
Jessup Covered Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 39°39′49.87″N 87°15′23.68″W / 39.6638528°N 87.2565778°W |
Crossed | Little Raccoon Creek |
Locale | Parke, Indiana, United States |
Official name | Jessup Covered Bridge |
Named for | Jessup, Indiana |
WGCB Number | 14-61-06x[1] |
Characteristics | |
Total length | 175 ft (53 m)155ft +10ft overhangs on each end |
Width | 16 ft (4.9 m)[2] |
Height | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
History | |
Constructed by | Jefferson P. Van Fossen |
Built | 1910 |
Destroyed | 1989 Flood |
Location | |
The Jessup Covered Bridge was north of
History
Construction
Originally the main road to Rockville from Terre Haute was through Coxville, with this bridge it was shorter to go through what was originally Jessup Station.[3] By 1969 though the bridge had been bypassed and closed by a new bridge. However, a December flood in 1969 would give the bridge a new leese on life.
Move
It was decided, after the Adams Covered Bridge was destroyed by flood waters in 1969, that the Jessup Covered bridge could replace it. Elmer Buchta of Buchta Trucking was contracted for the 12-mile move to the Adams Bridge.
After several days of removing the south abutment, the bridge was jacked onto two sets of multi-wheeled dollies. On Tuesday, February 3, 1970, the Jessup Covered Bridge started its road trip to what would be its home for the next 20 years, until it would meet the same fate as its predecessor. The bridge was first pulled to
Destruction
In 1989 a large tree broke the arches and collapsed the bridge. Again, like the Adams Covered Bridge before it, it was washed downstream, under the Sanitorium Covered Bridge and over the U.S. 36 concrete bridge, the former site of the Plank Road Covered Bridge, and jammed further downstream. By September 1990, Parke County Incorporated was attempting to acquire the Cedar Ford Covered Bridge from Shelby County, Indiana. Meanwhile, the County Highway Superintendent, Tom Martin, stated that the laminated floor boards, which is the major recurring maintenance performed on the covered bridges, had been recovered from the bridge but because the bridge would be too hard to recover from the creek bed and it was unneeded for other bridge repairs that it evidently wouldn't be removed intact.[2][4]
See also
References
- ^ "Jessup Covered Bridge". Indiana Covered Bridges. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Jessup Covered Bridge". Covered Bridges. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
- ^ "Florida Township 1905". Indiana Genealogy Web. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
- ^ "Jessup Covered Bridge 14-61-06x". Bridgehunter. July 8, 2010. Retrieved March 13, 2015.