The Beeson Covered Bridge originally crossed Roaring Creek, northwest of

Marshall, Indiana Marshall is a town in Washington Township, Parke County, Indiana, Washington Township, Parke County, Indiana, Parke County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 324. History A post office has been in operation ...

, on County Road 216, in Washington Township, Parke County. The bridge was moved to its current location in

Billie Creek Village Billie Creek Village was a 70-acre open-air living history museum and park, filled with 38 historical buildings and structures, and hundreds of antiques and artifacts. It is located at near Rockville, Adams Township, Parke County, Indiana in t ...

in December 1979.

Construction

The Beeson Covered Bridge is a single span

Burr Arch The Burr Arch Truss—or, simply, Burr Truss or Burr Arch—is a combination of an arch and a ''multiple kingpost'' truss design. It was invented in 1804 by Theodore Burr, patented on April 3, 1817, and used in bridges, usually covered bridge ...

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

structure that was built by the Frankfort Construction Company in 1906. The bridge is long, wide, with a clearance of . The bridge had concrete foundations when it was built and was placed on concrete foundations when it was moved, but after a flood in 1989, the bridge was reset on

creosote Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types were ...

d wood.

History

Many of the bridges in Parke County are named after a nearby city or the body of water they cross but due to another bridge across the county being named the Marshall Covered Bridge it was named after the nearby Beeson family. William H. Beeson, who was born in 1879, owned 53 acres of land near the bridge. It crossed Roaring Creek on C.R. 216, which is now C.R. 200N. Using the map that Parke County sent when filing for NRHP status, the bridge was originally located at: . ''Note:'' This includes
Site map
and Accompanying photographs. The bridge was closed in 1969, because the abutments were declared unsafe. In March 1979, a nearby concrete bridge collapsed. This, along with the earlier closing of the Beeson Covered Bridge, caused a severe problem with access to Marshall, and nearby Turkey Run High School and

Turkey Run State Park Turkey Run State Park, Indiana's second state park, is in Parke County in the west-central part of the state along State Road 47, east of U.S. 41. The first parcel of land was purchased for $40,200 in 1916, when Indiana's state park system ...

. The Roaring Creek Citizens Association (RCCA) was formed to address this problem. At 11:47 pm on August 9, 1979, just shortly after the RCCA had a meeting at Turkey Run High School, a fire was reported at the Beeson Bridge. Firefighters from Marshall, fought from the south end while firefighters from Bloomingdale, fought from the north end of the bridge. The fire was found to be a clear case of arson, fuel oil odors were still strong the following morning. The Parke County Sheriff's Department, Indiana State Police Department and the Indiana State Fire Marshal all were part of the investigation, owing that it is a registered national landmark the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

probably had jurisdiction too but declined to join. Due to the fire happening so close to the RCCA meeting the RCCA threatened legal action with anyone accusing them of being connected with the fire. Less than a week later another fire was started just after midnight on August 15, 1979. A nearby neighbor saw someone at the bridge and heard a car turn around in his driveway. Shortly after that he saw flames at the bridge and contacted the Fire Department. The Marshall Fire Department found the bridge floor covered in flames but was quickly able to extinguish them. On December 4, 1979, the Buchta Trucking Company began moving the bridge to its current location over Williams Creek, in

, Rockville. They first removed the roof and sides before transporting the rest of the bridge.

Gallery

image:Beeson Covered Bridge (Billie Creek Village).JPG, Beeson Covered Bridge at Billie Creek Village

References

Bibliography

External links

Parke County Covered Bridge Festival
* {{NRHP bridges Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Parke County, Indiana Bridges completed in 1906 Wooden bridges in Indiana Relocated buildings and structures in Indiana Burr Truss bridges in the United States Covered bridges in the United States destroyed by arson 1906 establishments in Indiana