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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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McConnellsville-Malta, Morgan County

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Inventory Number: OH/35-58-39x
County: Morgan County
Township: Malta - Morgan
Town/Village: McConnellsville
Bridge Name: McConnellsville-Malta
Crosses: Muskingum River
Truss type: Multiple King
Spans: 3
Length: 365'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1867
Builder:
When Lost: 1901
Cause: Replaced
Latitude: N39 38.90
Longitude: W081 51.49
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Old OH78 at McConnellsville.

Malta-Morgan, Morgan County, OH Built 1867 Lost 1901
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
As early as the 1830's, before the dams were built, the villages of McConnellsville and Malta chartered a company to build a bridge but were not able to raise the necessary funds. With the completion of the locks and dams in 1841, there was greater need for a bridge. Another company was organized in 1850 but the members could not agree whether the cost should be paid by the county or by investors. Finally in 1866 another Morgan County Bridge Company contracted for an iron bridge. During construction a flood damaged the piers and during the winter an ice gorge destroyed the unfinished iron spans. The company then settled for a wooden covered bridge, 352 feet long. It was completed on September 5, 1867, with inverted bow framework. The owners charged tolls until the county bought the structure in 1881 and made it free. Twenty years later the bridge was declared unsafe. It was demolished in 1901 and replaced by a steel bridge in 1902.

Source:
Muskingum River Covered Bridges by Schneider, Norris F., page 9.

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