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Bear Creek Covered Bridge

Ralls County, Missouri
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Photos 

Bear Creek Covered Bridge Hannibal New London Toll Road

Although this bridge was reportedly built by James Key in 1859, it is listed among the assets of the toll road company in 1855 newspaper reports. Photo predates a 1928 storm the blew the roof off.

Photo provided by Rusty Weisman courtsey of George Pollard

View this photo at george-1.smugmug.com

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Lost covered bridge over Bear Creek on the Hannibal-New London Toll Road
Location
Ralls County, Missouri
Status
No longer standing
History
Built 1859; replaced 1931
Builder
- James Key (purported builder)
Design
Burr arch-truss
Approximate latitude, longitude
+39.67894, -91.40535   (decimal degrees)
39°40'44" N, 91°24'19" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/636757/4393338 (zone/easting/northing)
Inventory number
BH 21989 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (3,822)
Built 1859 (12)
Built during 1850s (205)
Burr arch-truss (226)
Covered (925)
James Key (1)
Lost (10,374)
 Lost 1931 (5)
Lost during 1930s (60)
Missouri (4,528)
Ralls County, Missouri (30)
Red Ball Route (1)
Through truss (9,211)
Truss (23,575)

Update Log 

  • February 19, 2013: Updated by Rusty Weisman: Added category "Red Ball Route"

Sources 

  • Rusty Weisman
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Comments 

Bear Creek Covered Bridge
Posted February 19, 2013, by Rusty Weisman (Russell [dot] Weisman [at] modot [dot] mo [dot] gov)

Although there are published reports suggesting that the Bear Creek Covered Bridge was built by James Key in 1859 - that appears to be incorrect (Hannibal Courier-Post 100th Anniversary Edition 1938, K Allen Ballard 2012 Images of America, Ralls County Missouri). The Hannibal and New London Plank Road and Bridge Co. published a condition report for their toll road in the July 14 (pg 2) and July 21 1855 (pg 3) editions of the Hannibal Tri-Weekly Messinger newspaper. That report lists the Bear Creek Bridge among the company assets- with a cost or value of $3,146.50. It appears from that published statement that the bridge existed in July of 1855.