The Ballard Road Covered Bridge is a historic wooden covered bridge in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Built in the late nineteenth century and since bypassed, the bridge has been named a historic site. Following a design by H.E. Hebble, James E. Brown built the bridge across Caesar's Creek in 1883. He chose to name it for a nearby industrialist, Lyman Ballard, who had constructed a water-powered mill on the creek to grind grain approximately thirty years before. Brown chose a seven-panel

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

design for the bridge, which measures in length.Moore, Elma Lee. ''Ohio's Covered Bridges''.

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

: Arcadia, 2010, 52. Built of wood with iron elements on

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and covered with a metal roof, the single- span bridge is covered with vertical siding and retains the original square shape of its portals.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 534-535. Much of Greene County is underlain by high-quality limestone (the McDonald Farm near Xenia supplied limestone for the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the ...

McDonald Stone Quarry
, Ohio Historical Society, 1995. Accessed 2013-01-01.) and from this limestone the bridge's abutments were taken; it appears that the quarries for the abutments were located elsewhere in the surrounding New Jasper Township. Although the Ballard Road Bridge remains in its original rural setting, its surroundings are no longer as quiet as originally;

U.S. Route 35 U.S. Route 35 (US 35) is a United States Highway that runs southeast-northwest for approximately from the western suburbs of Charleston, West Virginia to northern Indiana. Although the highway is physically southeast-northwest, it is nomi ...

has been constructed as a

controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

immediately to the south, and Ballard Road now dead-ends at the bridge.Unused bridge gets $500k federal grant
''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'', 2012-08-19. Accessed 2013-01-15. By the 1970s, it was one of just eighteen Howe truss covered bridges remaining in Ohio, although thousands of bridges were built to this design in the 19th century throughout the United States. As such, it was deemed historically significant enough to qualify to be added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1975. The Ballard Road Bridge is one of five covered bridges in Greene County, and the only one open to road traffic.

References

External links

* {{NRHP in Greene County, Ohio Bridges completed in 1883 Buildings and structures in Greene County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Greene County, Ohio Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Wooden bridges in Ohio Howe truss bridges in the United States