Traders Point's Covered Bridge

Recent flooding destroyed the Moscow Covered Bridge in Rush County. Margaret Weir Smith, President of the Indiana Covered Bridge Society, writes in today's Indianapolis Star about our covered bridges and reminds Traders Point residents of how rare and signficant it is to have a covered bridge. (Traders Point's covered bridge once spanned Fishback Creek on West 86th Street. Safely relocated by preservationists in the early 1960s during the construction of Interstate 65, the bridge is now barely visible to passing motorists. It is located within the southwest quadrant of West 86th Street and Interstate 65 on private property, down a steep gravel drive that plunges nearly 100 feet below the grade of West 86th Street. A Howe truss bridge, it was originally constructed in 1876 and is 88 feet in length. It is registered in the world guide of covered bridges as 14-49-01. It is the only surviving covered bridge in Marion County. )

Reprinted below is an excerpt from Ms. Smith's MY VIEW article: "More than 600 covered bridges were built in Indiana between 1820 and 1922, with the 1880s being the heydey of covered bridge building. Why were these wooden bridges covered? Mainly to protect the flooring and interior from the elements. After the 1880s, more bridges were constructed of iron then later of concrete, materials that were both cheaper and stronger than wood. Time then took its toll on the stately covered bridges of wood. Only 89 remain in Indiana. However, only two states, Pennsylvania and Ohio, have more extant covered bridges. Much information about the bridges is available by going to the website of the Indiana Covered Bridge Society www.countyhistory.com/icbs.