Black Covered Bridge 35-09-03
Facts
- Overview
- Covered bridge over Four Mile Creek on Corso Road, north of Oxford
- Location
- Butler County, Ohio
- Status
- Open to pedestrians only
- History
- Built 1868-69 by Bandin, Butin and Bowman; rehabilitated 2000
- Builder
- - Banden, Butin & Bowman
- Design
- Heavily modified Long variant
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 206.0 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on June 5, 1975
- Also called
- Pugh's Mill Covered Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.52367, -84.73500 (decimal degrees)
39°31'25" N, 84°44'06" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/694686/4377340 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Oxford
- Inventory numbers
- WGCB 35-09-03 (World Guide to Covered Bridges number)
NRHP 75001336 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 27339 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- July 9, 2019: Updated by Will Truax: Corrested truss type
- October 14, 2016: New photos from Bill Eichelberger
- January 30, 2016: New photos from Mike Mullins
- July 10, 2014: New photos from Andrew Raker
- March 15, 2014: Photo imported by Dave King
- March 12, 2014: Updated by Dave King: Added street view, builder & imported photo
- April 2, 2010: Updated by Bill Eichelberger: Bridge is covered.
- October 14, 2009: New photos from Bill Eichelberger
- April 10, 2006: Posted photos from Jack Schmidt
Sources
- Jack Schmidt - jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net
- Dale Travis Covered Bridge List
- Bill Eichelberger
- Will Truax - Bridgewright [at] gmail [dot] com
- Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Graveaddiction.com - Pugh's Mill Covered Bridge
- BCEO.org - Black Bridge Restoration News Release
- Andrew Raker
- Mike Mullins
Comments
I would not categorize this truss as a Childs, it is a Long variant.
Though it curiously has the Double Posts in Childs' patent (Unlike the Sherman variant "Childs" Trusses) There are the Counter Braces ala Long and the Braces join the posts in Long fashion as opposed to Childs - And more importantly the Truss Rods are configured opposite of how a Childs conveys loads from panel to panel, they would be ascending not descending.
I suspect the rods were either added post build or were used in lieu of the pre-tensioning wedges in the Long patent.
I've visited the Sherman variants, but not this bridge and am somewhat reluctant to edit the page based solely on photographs. At the same time I think it a bit silly to miscategorize the bridge simply because the Historic marker was written based on assumption over research.
Does anyone who has visited have better shots, or an opinion as to type?
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/oh/butler/black/
Will, I read about this bridge many years ago and if I remember correctly it was originally built as a single-span Long truss. The contractors, I'll just call them BB&B, were summonsed back several times to make repairs. I believe they added the pier first and then added bracing that was supposed to "help" the structure settle onto the pier properly. I assume those bracing are what gives it a Childs appearance.