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Davis or Horne or Overholtzer, Greene County

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Inventory Number: PA/38-30-31#2x / PA-63-31#2x
County: Greene County / Washington County
Township: Morgan - West Bethlehem
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Davis or Horne or Overholtzer
Crosses: Tenmile Creek or North Fork of Tenmile Creek
Truss type: Burr w/Polygonal Arch
Spans: 1
Length: 87' span, 96' overall
Roadway Width: 14'-3"
Built: 1889
Builder:
When Lost: 27 Mar 1994
Cause: Collapsed
Latitude: N40 00.49
Longitude: W080 03.74
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 1.3 miles southeast of SR2020 & east edge Marianna on SR2011 to Zollarsville, then 0.6 miles left on SR2017 & 0.4 miles right on Davis Lane (Morgan Twp. T325, West Bethlehem Twp. T838).

Davis or Horne or Overholtzer Bridge, Morgan-West Bethlehem, Greene County, PA. Built 1889 Collapsed 27 Mar 1994
Tom and Linda Burns Photo, September 22, 1985

Davis or Horne or Overholtzer Bridge, Morgan-West Bethlehem, Greene County, PA. Built 1889 Collapsed 27 Mar 1994
Phil Schmitz Collection

Comments:
8-panel truss. Greene County #94. Per Old Covered Bridge Days of Greene County by Earle Robert Forrest (1953), the original bridge at the crossing was likely built around 1838, based on a petition with subscriptions dated March 27, 1838. The primary subscribers included four Wise families and one Hawkins family, so it is likely that the bridge would have been known as Wise Bridge at that time. The bridge succumbed to the big 1888 flood. Based on the mix of hewn and sawed lumber used in the Davis bridge, Mr. Forrest hypothesized that the 1889 bridge included salvaged truss members from the original bridge. The replacement structure had a "footwalk" on each side and included noticeable camber. The length was 96 feet with a span of 92 feet. It was a modified Burr Truss with shorter pieces making the arch rather than one long timber and it also had tie rods from the abutments stretched under the bridge. An article by Thomas Walczak, president of the Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of Pennsylvania, Inc. stated the following in the Spring, 1994 (Vol. 17, #2) issue of Wooden Covered Spans: "The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 1981 when an overweight agricultural truck crossed and fractured one of the Burr arches and a lateral floor support timber underneath the deck. Reportedly, the farm supply company made restitution to each county for repairs to the bridge, but the counties chose to divert the monies to other projects instead and closed the bridge and made no attempt to preserve the historic span. Mounds of dirt and concrete barriers blocked the entrance to the portals and no maintenance was expended on the bridge following this incident." The bridge, which was already in a sad state of repair, deteriorated over the following decade. The article further stated: "The last visit, on June 1, 1993, found most of the tin sheeting blown off the roof allowing rain and snow onto the main support beams of the truss." The bridge collapsed under its own weight about 1:00 PM, Sunday March 27, 1994. Current aerial imagery shows nothing was ever built to replace it. Coordinates are at the gap in the road.

Sources:
Forrest, Robert Earle, Old Covered Bridge Days of Greene County, The Washington Observer, February, 1953.
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, March 2008