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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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Reelsville, Putnam County

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Inventory Number: IN/14-67-29x
County: Putnam County
Township: Washington
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Reelsville
Crosses: Big Walnut Creek
Truss type:
Spans:
Length:
Roadway Width:
Built: c1875
Builder:
When Lost: 1929
Cause: Replaced
Latitude: N39 33.28
Longitude: W086 57.83
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: On CR 625W at Reelsville. 21-13N-5W.

Reelsville Bridge, Washington, Putnam County, IN Replaced 1929
Mary Lou Hazelrigg Collection

Reelsville Bridge, Washington, Putnam County, IN Replaced 1929
Earll Richard Stone Collection

Comments:
Per The Indianapolis Star, July 29, 1923, "The new bridge is on the Reelsville cutoff of the National road, a relocation of the highway which was planned to eliminate the dangerous Reelsvllle hill. The route now followed by the road was in use until 1875, when a serious flood washed out a bridge, on the site of the new state bridge. The commissioners of Putnam county at that time changed the route of the road to include the Reelsville hill and built the present old [covered] bridge. The grade on the Reelsville hill is more than 12 per cent and the road takes an abrupt turn before entering the bridge. The relocation of the road, in addition to removing the hill from the highway, eliminates two railroad crossings. William J. Titus, chief bridge engineer for the commission, who supervised the construction of the new bridge, said that the structure is peculiar in that one of the abutments rests on a rock foundation, while others stand on piling driven Into the river bottom. Many of the stones removed in constructing the bridge weighed several tons each." The new bridge was built about a mile west of the covered bridge, thereby bypassing the Reelsville entirely. When the covered bridge was destroyed during a storm in 1929 a replacement concrete bridge was built at this location as well.

Sources:
The Indianapolis Star, July 29, 1923, p.8.
Gould, George E.. Indiana's Covered Bridges Thru the Years, 1977