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Snow Hill Covered Bridge

Location: Snow Hill Road .1 miles west of Johnson Fork Road, Rockdale.  (Franklin County, Indiana)

Installed: 2005 Indiana Historical Bureau, Franklin County Commissioners, and Franklin County Citizens for Historic Preservation

ID# : 24.2005.1

Text

Side one:

Built 1894-1895 over Johnson's Fork Creek by John H. Horn and William H. Butts to a Howe truss design by John Burkhart. All men were local residents. Bridge was important passageway to Cincinnati markets. Rests on stone abutments with wingwalls; includes X-braced framing. Bridge braced with iron bolts and vertical iron rods.

Side two:

Bridge honors landowner Lemuel Snow, a Revolutionary War veteran. Deemed unsafe 1986 and closed to traffic. Community-supported restoration project resulted. Roof, wood flooring, and other elements replaced 1987; bridge reopened 1987. Listed in National Register of Historic Places 1995. Restoration and construction project begun 2000.

Keywords

Transportation, Buildings and Architecture

Annotated Text

Built 1894-1895 over Johnson's Fork Creek by John H. Horn and William H. Butts to a Howe truss design by John Burkhart. All men were local residents.(1) Bridge was important passageway to Cincinnati markets.(2) Rests on stone abutments with wingwalls; includes X-braced framing. Bridge braced with iron bolts and vertical iron rods.(3)

Bridge honors landowner Lemuel Snow, a Revolutionary War veteran.(4) Deemed unsafe 1986 and closed to traffic.(5) Community-supported restoration project resulted.(6) Roof, wood flooring, and other elements replaced 1987; bridge reopened 1987.(7) Listed in National Register of Historic Places 1995.(8) Restoration and construction project begun 2000.(9)

Notes:

1 – Franklin County Commissioners' Notes, 1894, 1895; John Sechrist, "Historic Covered Bridges of Indiana, " (n.l., 1996), 1; Eugene R. Bock, "The Covered Bridge and Indiana, " Indiana History Bulletin, Vol. 37:6 (June, 1960), p. 24; Franklin County Tax Duplicate, 1895.

2 – National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (1995), Section 8, p. 3.

3 - National Register Form, Section 7, p. 1; AECON, Inc. Engineers/Architects, Nashville, Indiana (1986) Report, 1.

4 - National Register Form, Section 8, p. 4 is the only (undocumented) source for naming; for Snow's service, see the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 163:130.

5 - AECON, Inc. Report; Connersville News-Examiner, May 31, 2001; National Register Form.

6 - Carrie Orr, "Franklin...save Snow Hill Bridge, " Connersville News-Examiner, May 31, 2001.

7 - James A. Barker, "Franklin County Bridge #102, Franklin County, Indiana, " Bid Specifications for repair/replace; Connersville News-Examiner, May 31, 2001; National Register Form.

8 – Historic Indiana, 1999-2000, p. 24.

9 – Indiana Covered Bridge Society Newsletter, January 2000; Cincinnati Enquirer, July 15, 2000.