Photos 

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Side view

Photos taken 2006 by Nathan Holth
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Portal

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Close-up of truss members

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Plaque

1894
Built by
The Canton Bridge Co.
Canton Ohio

Map 

Vicinity Map

Vicinity map

Map links:

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over St. Marys River on Bostick Road in Fort Wayne
Location
Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana
Status
Closed to traffic
Future prospects
Scheduled for replacement
History
Built 1894 by the Canton Bridge Co.; closed April 2004
Builder
- Canton Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio
Design
Whipple through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 165.0 ft.
Total length: 173.8 ft.
Deck width: 15.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 16.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.97948, -85.09440   (decimal degrees)
40°58'46" N, 85°05'40" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Inventory numbers
INNBI 0200201 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 15779 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 07/2006)
Deck condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Imminent Failure (1 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 21.4 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2006)
127

Categories 

19th Century (1,720)
Allen County, Indiana (22)
Built 1894 (70)
Built during 1890s (649)
Canton Bridge Co. (43)
Closed (1,302)
Doomed (76)
Fort Wayne, Indiana (13)
Indiana (1,566)
Owned by county (14,137)
Span length 125-175 feet (1,989)
Structurally deficient (10,789)
Through truss (5,205)
Total length 125-175 feet (2,626)
Truss (15,739)
Whipple truss (47)

Update Log 

Sources 

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Comments 

Bostick Road Bridge
Posted February 25, 2008, by Justin Spaulding (spauldo_86 [at] verizon [dot] net)

Yes, Bostick Bridge is definitely haunted. Throughout my four years of highschool me and a group of my friends investigated Bostick Bridge over 2 dozen times in a span of four years.We have been chased by strange animals through the woods, the whole bridge started shaking when there was no wind,aircraft, or anything to cause the bridge to move, we have seen Bright orange shapes and eyes in the woods on the west side of the bridge(it was not a sign,trust me we looked).My friends little sister went with her mom there and found about a dozen mutilated squirrels stacked up on top of eachother with there heads bit off. I have a lot more to say and share about haunted places in and around FortWayne If anyone is interested in hearing them hit me up at spauldo_86@verizon.net

Bostick Road Bridge
Posted January 4, 2007, by ianv (b [dot] y [dot] f [dot] d [at] hotmail [dot] com)

THE COMMENTS THAT PEOPLE ARE MAKING ARE TRUE SOME OF MY FRIENDS AND I WENT UP THERE LAST NIGHT AT ABOUT THREE OR SO IN THE MORNING I JUST WANT TO KNOW THE STORY SO IF ANYONE HAS IT LET ME KNOW BUT YEA ITS HAUNTED FOR SURE.

WE TOOK A PIUC OF MY FRIEND IN THE WOODS AND THERE WAS A PINK ORB ABOVE HIS HEAD THE BRIDGE IS CREEPY ALRIGHT EVERYONE LATER

Bostick Road Bridge
Posted December 14, 2006, by Chad Kelham (ckelham [at] ballstate [dot] bsu [dot] edu)

Thank God that they're at least going to make an effort to preserve this whipple through truss bridge which has been shut down for almost 3 years running.

At the same time, they're going to make a replacement; exactly when, no one's said yet. But at any rate this is kind of a big deal in the event of emergencies, where timing is everything. In a sense, the closing of the Bostick Road bridge can be seen as a mixed blessing: first of all, it takes longer to get to point B from point A & secondly, this whipple truss is going to be preserved somehow, someway. But couldn't they just make a replacement which bypasses this bridge; it'd seem more logical & more effective too.

Enough rambling here; this is one of the best frickin' through trussers around & that's saying something.

Bostick Road Bridge
Posted October 16, 2006, by Nathan Holth

The bridge is indeed a Whipple truss. A new crossing is to be constructed at this bridge's location, however the county is supposedly going to dismantle and store the bridge for possible re-erection, which it doesn only because the local historic preservation group called ARCH convinced them to. There is still some debate as to the bridge's destination, but the future is perhaps not quite as bleak... The ARCH website: http://www.archfw.org/

Bostick Road Bridge
Posted July 30, 2006, by KYLE (DTOTHEADDY [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM)

I'M GONNA BE REAL..........ME AND SOME FRIENDS WENT UP THERE A COUPLE TIMES..........TO SAY THE LEAST.......THAT BRIDGE IS HAUNTED....LOUD KNOCKING......THE WHOLE BRIDGE SHAKING........THATS JUST THE BEGINNING........ANYBODY ELSE HAVE SOME EXPERIENCES UP THERE?

Bostick Road Bridge
Posted July 3, 2006, by ken (kknepple [at] internetapollo [dot] com)

Have you ever received any comments on this bridge regarding paranormal activity. there is some tales of some eerie activity at this bridge. In 1994 me and 3 of my friends visited this bridge and all 4 of us were witness of this behavior. I wanted to know if you had any comments or questions regarding this bridge.

Bostick Road Bridge
Posted April 24, 2006, by Kate Johnson (katejhalifax [at] aol [dot] com)

This bridge looks like a Whipple Truss. Does anyone know the status of this historic bridge?