Preble County
Bridge Tour
Sept 17,
2006
Ron
Jones, Tour Director
Lead
Vehicle Cell phone (614) xxx-xxxx
Meet at the McDonald’s 2373 Dayton
Germantown Pike (located at SR 4 and SR 725) 1.5 miles NE of Germantown at 10:00 AM.
1. Start
Tour: follow SR 725 West to Germantown.
Turn right onto Water St.
then right at Center St. to the Germantown CB:
The Germantown Bridge
represents an important transition between the wooden truss covered bridge and
the iron truss bridge. Two Ohio bridge builders
apparently worked independently to come up with a wooden suspension bridge that
used an eye bar chain as the main support member. This had a long
tradition in English engineering but William Black in Fairfield
County and David H. Morrison in Montgomery County both began applying the concept
to a wooden bridge in the 1860s. The Germantown Bridge was built by Morrison in 1865
(despite the date on the portal) and moved to the present location in the early
twentieth century. Motorists kept knocking an end post out, causing the
bridge to collapse, but local preservationists have rebuilt it every time.
2. Leave
on Water St. North.
Make a sharp left onto Dayton Pike and cross the RR tracks and turn left onto Cherry St. Turn
right onto SR 725 West (Market St.)
and follow it west to Gratis. Turn right on SR 122 in Gratis. Take a left onto Brubaker Rd at the
cemetery and continue to the Brubaker CB
Brubaker Covered Bridge
(35-68-06) was built over Sam’s Run in 1887 by Everett S. Sherman of Delaware County. The 88 foot bridge has a Childs
truss patented in 1846 by a New
Hampshire bridge builder of that name. Interestingly,
the cost of the large abutments, $1422, actually exceeded the price of the
superstructure, a paltry $986. T.J. Smith was the masonry contractor.
In 1886 Sherman
was invited by Preble County Engineer, Robert Lowery to assist in
reconstruction after severe storms destroyed many bridges in Preble County.
Lowery was also a native of Delaware County and hence new Sherman. Sherman
ultimately built 15 Childs Truss bridges in Preble County
before his death in 1887.
3. Continue over the bridge. Turn right
onto Aukerman
Creek Rd. and stay on this road as it makes
several turns. At the old one room
schoolhouse turn right onto CR 5 (Quaker
Trace Rd or Old Trace Rd). Turn left at Seven Mile Rd and
continue to the Pegram Truss Bridge
Pegram
Through Truss, the only bridge of its type still
standing in Ohio.
This unusual truss type was developed in 1887 by George H. Pegram,
a consulting engineer working in New
York City. It was intended to simplify and cheapen
truss bridge construction by making all compression members, which are the
largest and most expensive to fabricate, shorter than the tension members. The
members of the upper chord are all uniform in length, simplifying their
manufacture; and the diagonals in compression are shorter towards the ends of
the truss (thereby lessening the possibility of bending) where the stresses are
greatest. The truss represents the very best of late nineteenth century American
engineering, illustrating the characteristic desire to provide the maximum
strength with a minimum of material. The goal of creating the most efficient
truss lead to enormous experimentation with truss types by American engineers
to an extent unparalleled anywhere else in the world. The Pegram
truss is an excellent example of this trend.
The
truss became especially popular on far western railroads, especially the Union
Pacific, in the l890s. It fell out of favor with railroad engineers about the
turn-of-the-century because of difficulties in satisfactorily converting it to
riveted, as opposed to pinned, connections. Because a highway bridge did not
need to be as rigid as a railroad bridge, the builders of this 1908 structure,
the Indiana Bridge Company of Indianapolis,
used pin connections.
4. Continue on Seven Mile Rd across US 127 where it
changes to Mann Rd. Turn left onto Paint
Creek Rd then right onto Longman Rd. and proceed to the Iron Howe
Bridge.
Davenport
Straight Howe Truss, a very rare wrought-iron truss over Sugar Run dating to
the l87Os. This unusual truss system was developed in the l850s by a Massillon, Ohio;
inventor named Joseph Davenport and was based on the proven truss system that
combined wooden and iron components known as the Howe truss. What is believed
to have been the very first iron bridge in Ohio was a copy of this highly successful
combination truss. Only one other example of this particular design by Davenport is known to exist anywhere in Ohio or the nation. The technology of this
structure dates back to the earliest period of iron bridges in the state
5.
Continue on Longman Rd and take a right on Camden Sugar Valley Rd. Turn left on
SR 732 then turn right onto Wyatt Rd. Turn left onto California School Rd. and follow
this to Concord Fairhaven Rd. Turn right and proceed to the Harshman Rd CB
Harshman Covered Bridge (35-68-03), a 109 foot, Childs truss built in 1894 by
Everett Sherman over Four Mile Creek. Invented by a New
Hampshire bridge builder named Horace Childs in 1846, the only
known examples of this truss were built by Sherman
in Ohio
during the late nineteenth century. The stone abutments for this bridge were
built by mason J.M. Acton, who obtained the stone from a quarry a short
distance to the south.
6. Continue over the bridge and turn
right on Concord Rd. Go left onto SR 732. Turn left on St. Clair St. in Eaton. Stop at the small
park to visit the Roberts CB and the St.
Clair St. Bridge after which we
will break for lunch.
Roberts Covered Bridge (35-68-05), one of the state’s most important
historic bridges. Built in 1829, it is Ohio’s
only remaining example of the once common two-barreled or double “wagon-way”
bridge. Few other bridges represent the distinctive early-nineteenth century
craftsmanship inherent in the true Burr truss design. Special attention should
be directed to the connections of the lower chord (a tension member subjected
to forces that attempt to pull it apart) and to the arches themselves.
St.
Clair Street Bridge, a 104 foot Pratt through truss built in 1887 by the
Columbia Bridge Works of Dayton. It exemplifies the distinctive ornamentation
typical of late-nineteenth century metal bridges. Especially noteworthy are the
cannonball finials and elaborate cut-out name plates on each portal. The
abutments are unusual in also being dated and labeled by the masonry
contractors, Adam and John Trunk.
LUNCH OPTIONS:
Ø
THE PREBLE COUNTY PORK FESTIVAL, admission and parking is FREE and only short
drive away. Continue on St. Clair St. Turn right at S Franklin St (SR 122) The Preble county
fairgrounds is on the left.
Ø
FAST FOOD
Restaurants. Turn left off St.
Clair St and take SR 127 (Barron St.) north to several fast food
restaurants.
Ø
Eat your
packed lunch on a picnic table at the Roberts CB site.
Return
to the Roberts CB site by the designated time (___________) to continue the
tour. If late, just rejoin the tour at the Christman
CB.
7. Leave Roberts CB and
the St. Clair St. Bridge. Continue on St Clair St. Turn left (north)
onto SR 127 (Barron St.)
Turn left onto Debbie Dr.
which changes to Park Ave
and then turn left on Eaton New
Hope Rd. to Christman CB
Christman Covered Bridge (35-68-12), a 100 foot, Childs truss built in 1895
by Everett Sherman. Recent research has shown that Sherman obtained the idea for the Childs
truss from an article by a patent attorney on expired patents that appeared in
Engineering News late in 1882. The patents illustrated had become, by that
time, a part of the public domain, and Sherman
was not obligated to pay anyone for use of the Childs design. The bridge is unusual for a covered bridge in having
skewed trusses where the two trusses are not parallel but staggered by having
abutments that are "askew."
8. Continue over the bridge and make a
right on Spacht
Rd. then a right onto Winnerline Rd.
Take a sharp left onto SR 726 followed by an immediate right back onto Winnerline Rd. Continue across US 127 and turn left onto Prices Creek Rd. at
the road end. Proceed to the Price Creek
Concrete Arch.
Price Creek
Concrete Bridge, an early twentieth century
reinforced concrete structure.
Its graceful parabolic arch conforms exactly to the shape recommended as the
“best” structural design for arches to create uniform loading. Since concrete
was a new material in the early decades of this century, the unknown designer
of this bridge took the conservative and “safe” approach of following a
long-established structural form. Due to the low roadway on either side, the
bridge creates a striking high arch. Railings that originally ran across the
top walls were removed in the past to improve sight distances.
9. Continue over bridge and under I-70. Turn right
on Lewisburg Western Rd.
which changes to Clay St
near Lewisburg. Turn right on Dayton
St. where road ends, then left into the park at
bottom of the hill to see the Dixon CB.
Note there are public restrooms here.
Dixon Branch Covered Bridge (35-68-04), 50 foot Childs truss built in 1887 by
Everett Sherman. It was moved to this location from a site southwest of Eaton
in 1964.
10. Leave park by turning left onto Dayton St. Then
turn left onto Jordan Rd. Cross Rt 40 and turn left
onto Swamp Creek Rd.
and continue to the Warnke CB.
Warnke Covered
Bridge (35-68-14), a 51 foot, Childs truss dating to 1896
that was the last bridge built by Everett Sherman. He reportedly cleaned out his bridge yard on North Maple Street
in Eaton to obtain sufficient material and was paid $459 for its construction.
With his health failing, he moved to Richmond,
Indiana, where he died shortly
thereafter.
THIS
IS THE END OF THE TOUR!
To
get to I-70 (2 miles) continue over the bridge on Swamp Creek Rd and turn left at CR 36
where it ends. Turn right at Rt 40 and then left onto
SR 503 in Lewisburg. SR 503 intersects I-70.
Ron Jones
5132 Upper Mount Row
New Albany, OH 43054
(614) 939 1413
Version 9/5/06