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true true true true

New Monroe County Covered Bridge Maintains Pieces Of Local History

By Alex Eady

Posted June 5, 2019

Photo of the exterior of the Monroe County covered bridge.

At one time, Monroe County had 14 covered bridges. Now the refurbished structure is the only one remaining. (Seth Tackett, WTIU/WFIU News )

Monroe County officials are set to debut a newly-reconstructed covered bridge- the county’s first in nearly 40 years.  

The bridge was originally built in Shelby County in 1885, but it was dismantled nearly 100 years later.  

Monroe County’s highway department is in charge of the $1.6 million project and has rebuilt the structure using preserved remains from its past.

The project is particularly special for county resident Jim Barker. After purchasing the old bridge in 1999, Barker took a hands-on approach to rehabilitating the structure and became the project’s engineer.

He says seeing the structure gradually come together is important to him.

“Preserving a community’s history makes the community stronger, and better and a more desirable place to live,” he says.

The bridge will span Beanblossom Creek along N. Maple Grove Road, just a few miles north of Bloomington.

Interior view of the Monroe County covered bridge.
A view of the newly reconstructed interior of Monroe County's covered bridge. (Seth Tackett, WTIU/WFIU News) 

Barker says they could only recover some of the timber from the original structure, so much of the bridge is built from new wood.

“It’s a burr arch, which has the arch and the truss both working together to help each other. So it’s a nice artistic form but also a very strong form for wood construction,” he says. 

Construction crews wrapped up work on the bridge over the past several weeks, which included adding the roof and siding and laying the deck. 

At one time, the county had 14 covered bridges, but now the refurbished structure is the only one remaining.

There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the bridge on Sunday, June 9 at 5 p.m.

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