The Plank Road Covered Bridge was east of
Rockville, Indiana. The single-span
Burr Arch covered bridge structure was built by Henry Wolf in either 1854 or 1859 and destroyed in the
Great Flood of 1913.
History
Construction
The bridge was originally built by Henry Wolf on the
Plank Road
A plank road is a road composed of wooden planks or puncheon logs. Plank roads were commonly found in the Canadian province of Ontario as well as the Northeast and Midwest of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. They were oft ...
, that had been constructed between
Rockville and
Bellmore around 1850. The Plank Road was a
toll road that would stretch from
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
, in the east, to the
Wabash River, in the west. However, the planking didn't hold up and they soon started to rot. The boards were removed and the road was graveled. In 1867 or 1877 the Parke County Commissioners bought the companies stock and opened the road as a free road.
Repairs and Destruction
The bridge would suffer from damaging flood a couple of times in its life before finally succumbing to the Great Flood of 1913, which would go on to claim several bridges in Parke County.
The first record is that
J.J. Daniels had to make repairs in 1863 to the bridge. Again, in 1875, flood waters damaged the east abutment this time which would require $900 in repairs.
After being damaged in the 1913 flood it was replaced with the
Howard Covered Bridge.
See also
*
Parke County Covered Bridges
*
Parke County Covered Bridge Festival
References
{{Parke county lost covered bridges
Former covered bridges in Parke County, Indiana
Bridges completed in 1854
1854 establishments in Indiana
Wooden bridges in Indiana
Burr Truss bridges in the United States
Plank road