details

Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

Home

Kurtz's Mill or Bear's Mill (original location), Lancaster County

If you find errors in the data please contact Bill Caswell.

If you would like to provide information on covered bridges that no longer exist from your state, or adopt a state to work on, we would certainly welcome your assistance. Please contact Trish Kane for more information.

Inventory Number: PA/38-36-03
County: Lancaster County
Township: Earl
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Kurtz's Mill or Bear's Mill (original location)
Crosses: Conestoga River
Truss type: Burr
Spans: 1
Length: 96' overall, 90' span
Roadway Width: 12'-6"
Built: 1876
Builder: W.W. Upp
When Lost: 22 Jun 1972
Cause: Hurricane Agnes, Rebuilt
Latitude: N40 09.04
Longitude: W076 06.25
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 1 mile east of Hinkletown.

Kurtz's Mill or Isaac Baer's Mill Bridge (relocated location), West Lampeter, PA. Built 1876 (1973)
Bill Caswell Photo (2004)

Kurtz's Mill or Isaac Baer's Mill Bridge (relocated location), West Lampeter, PA. Built 1876 (1973)
Bill Caswell Photo, December 14, 2019

Kurtz's Mill or Isaac Baer's Mill Bridge (original location), Earl, Lancaster County, PA. Built 1876 Hurricane Agnes, Rebuilt 22 Jun 1972
Thomas G. Kipphorn Collection

Kurtz's Mill or Isaac Baer's Mill Bridge (relocated location), West Lampeter, PA. Built 1876 (1973)
Thomas G. Kipphorn Collection

Kurtz's Mill or Isaac Baer's Mill Bridge (relocated location), West Lampeter, PA. Built 1876 (1973)
Bill Caswell Photo, December 14, 2019

Comments:
Cost $1407. 10-panel truss. Also known as J.S. Kurtz's Mill or Isaac Bear's Mill Bridge. After being destroyed by Hurricane Agnes in 1972, it was relocated and rebuilt in Central Park in 1974 by the late Stephen Esh and his Amish work crew at a cost of $75,000. Stone abutments were built and then roadways were built to the bridge site. Golf Road formerly ran parallel to the stream on the West Lampeter Township side, but was diverted away, along a ridge to rejoin the old road some distance away. What is left of the old road on that side now empties into a parking area. On the Lancaster City side, a section of road was laid to the bridge site off a road that leads back to a pavillion and picnic area. The bridge is on Kiwanis Drive.

Sources:
Evans, Benjamin D. & June R.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges, 2001, page 171
Collins, Kenneth W.. Covered Bridges of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 2002, pages 32-33, 68-69
Moll, Fred J.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges - Our Heritage, 2004, pages 108-109
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, September 2005
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 116

The images in this collection may be protected under copyright law and may only be used for educational, teaching, and research purposes.
If the intended use is beyond these purposes, it is the responsibility of the user to obtain the appropriate permissions from the owner stated in the image's credits.