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COVERED BRIDGES
Of Preble And Montgomery Counties 

Caught in a time warp, covered bridges are impediments to contemporary travel, yet there is an endeavor to preserve the remaining few as historical and useful assets to modern highways. At one time they were the accepted solution to straddling gaps in roadways all over the country. Southern Ohio’s topography in particular made spanning of gorges, rivers, and lesser waterways a staple of road construction and the covered bridge an art form.  Though outdated by a century, their architectural purity blends so placidly into the landscape that locals traverse them daily with hardly a second thought. 

In the last half century there has been wholesale replacement with modern structures, but the belief that the alternative is more durable has not proved conclusive.  Several bridges of steel and concrete in recent years have collapsed while covered bridges of more than 150 years still stand.  

Fortunately historical societies and various government entities have saved these relics from extinction. Preble and Montgomery Counties in southwest Ohio have not only preserved an abundance of the bridges, but the most unusual of their kind. Some are in daily use and others have been moved and displayed as historical object d'art. 

There are seven (Brubaker, Christman, Dixon, Garrison, Harshman, Tyler Sloane and Warnke) in Preble County and five (Diamond Mill, Feedwire, Germantown, Jasper Road, and Zink) in Montgomery County. If viewing all is impractical some are too important to miss. 

The Roberts Bridge, built in 1829, was moved from its original location to a park on St. Clair Street in the town of Eaton, where today it is reserved for foot traffic. It is the oldest covered bridge in the state of Ohio, the second oldest in the entire country and one of only six “double barreled” covered bridges found anywhere. It was built like two Siamese bridges providing two-way traffic. Since almost all covered bridges were single lane conveyances, their demise was obvious. 

What is not so obvious to first-time observers is that there is no support under the structures. There are no pillars or trestlework to hold them up—nothing but thin air and rippling water.  At either end the bridges are simply perched on stone abutments, and some of them span more than one hundred feet. Not designed merely for lightweight traffic, some were built for railroads. 

The superstructure is all above the heavily planked floor of the bridge. The sides are constructed of huge 6-by-6 and 8-by-8 oak and poplar beams triangulated to be inflexible, and some have hand-hewn 4-by-12 arches integrated into the framework for nearly the full length to further prevent sagging. 

Covered bridges, a favored subject of landscape artists, are thought by some to be merely cute. Others see the logic of the roof as central to their longevity by shielding the structure from inclement weather. While true, the actual reason is to tie the structure together. If not held in place vertically, the sides would buckle sideways causing immediate failure. The roof creates a box-like structure that is absolutely rigid.  Theoretically they could be built to great lengths, limited only by the strength and natural pliancy in the beams themselves. 

The one-hundred-foot Christman Bridge on New Hope Road a couple miles northwest of Eaton and the eighty-eight-foot Brubaker Bridge on Brubaker Road west of Gratis are more typical of nineteenth-century covered bridges. After necessary refurbishing, both are in constant use today, admittedly on lesser-traveled roads where squeezing down to one lane is not a bottleneck. They appear just as they did more than a hundred years ago, and pull-off areas are provided for the curious to park and take a walk-through.  

The choice of material was no doubt due to the abundance of trees at the time of construction. In fact most of the timber was cut and milled on sight as the building progressed. The total cost of the Brubaker Bridge was approximately $2500, with nearly two thirds for the stone abutments.  

The Germantown Bridge, named after the town where it’s located, is easy to find on East Center Street.  It is the most unusual of all the covered bridges. Although there is a roof over the one- hundred-foot span, the sides are open revealing rather meager steel framing. Compared to the massive wooden beams it looks flimsy, but in reality it’s a masterpiece of engineering. 

At the heart of the design is an inverted arch—or bow of steel beams linked together at pivot joints indirectly connected to rods that are in turn attached to heavy wooden beams extending side to side under the floor. Weight on the bridge causes the arch to flex, which in turn causes upward pressure on the steel rods and cross beams. In essence, the more weight… the more the bridge lifts up on itself.  

Instead of brute strength the engineers relied on laws of mechanical advantage.  However, like a chain that fails completely when one link gives way, the bridge’s configuration is similarly affected with a breakdown of a single component. When used for vehicular traffic, impending collapse was only avoided with immediate repair several times when motorists knocked out an end post.   After forty-one years at its original location it was moved to the present site in 1911 where it is now restricted to pedestrian use. 

Although the design is not original—supposedly derived from English engineering—the Germantown Bridge is said to be the only type structure ever built in this country, and the only one yet existing.   

Viewing a number of these antiquated and fascinating features of Ohio’s roads can be a full day’s outing, and travel through Montgomery and Preble Counties during the most colorful of the fall season is spectacular.  

Go to www.ohiobarns.com for locations, directions and photos.

By Robert Carpenter
Robert Carpenter was born and raised in the New Philadelphia, Ohio area. He's a freelance writer presently living in Florida.