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Schoolhouse, Caledonia County

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Inventory Number: VT/45-03-03
County: Caledonia County
Township: Lyndon
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Schoolhouse
Crosses: South Wheelock Branch, Passumpsic River
Truss type: Queen
Spans: 1
Length: 42'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1879
Builder: J.C. Jones & Lee Goodell
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N44 30.965
Longitude: W072 00.586
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.1 miles south of jct I-91 (Exit 23) on US5 and 0.1 miles right on South Wheelock Rd. to a parking area on the left for the bridge on a bypassed section of road.

Schoolhouse Bridge, Lyndon, Caledonia County, VT Built 1879
John Randolph Morton Photo, Vermont Covered Bridge Society Collection

Schoolhouse Bridge, Lyndon, Caledonia County, VT Built 1879
Bill Caswell Photo, November 2007

Schoolhouse Bridge, Lyndon, Caledonia County, VT Built 1879
Bill Caswell Photo

Schoolhouse Bridge, Lyndon, Caledonia County, VT Built 1879
Richard E. Roy Collection

Schoolhouse Bridge, Lyndon, Caledonia County, VT Built 1879
Bob Sheldon Photo, September 10, 2011

Schoolhouse Bridge, Lyndon, Caledonia County, VT Built 1879
Bill Caswell Photo, September 8, 2013

Schoolhouse Bridge, Lyndon, Caledonia County, VT Built 1879
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
Closed. Per the St. Johnsbury Republican, June 25, 1941, the schoolhouse covered bridge was built in 1872 when the new road was laid out by the new schoolhouse, opened that year for its first term and long known as the Lyndon Academy and Graded School. It is possible an earlier bridge stood here, but if so, it only stood a brief time before a new bridge needed to be built. That information has not been located. Per The Vermont Union (Lyndon), December 12, 1879, "---The new bridge on School street is completed and is a job well done. John Clement laid the abutments which is a guarantee that the work will stand. J. C. Jones drew the plan of the wood work and Lee Goodell framed it and superintended the building. The dumps at each end of the bridge have been raised and widened. What remains to (be) done now is to widen the entrance to that street between Mr. Ayer's and Mr. McGaffey's. It is now 34 feet wide, but was three rods wide [49.5 feet] as laid, of course, because the statute makes every public road three rods wide. The selectmen talk of buying off a piece of McGaffeys, but before they make any purchases they should first take what land the town already purchased. Three rods wide at the entrance, which the town already owns, would do very well. We have been to the town clerk’s office and find the following survey recorded: Survey and opening of highway at Lyndon Corner, commencing in the east line of the road leading from near the Congregational church to the brick school house one and one-half rods south from the south line of said school lot, thence south ...from the south-west side of the Elm tree in Wm. H. McGaffey's front yard, nearest Hiram Ayers' house. Lyndon, Nov. 15th, 1872. George Rabney, Surveyor." The road was opened for public travel January 1, 1873. Based on the 1858 map of Lyndon Corner, Mr. Ayer lived just south of the where the new road was built and Mr. McGaffey lived just north. A bridge would have been required at the time the road was built leading off to the west, because the stream was only about 300 feet to the west. During the 1927 flood, the high water and debris lifted the bridge off of its abutments. When the water subsided, the bridge settled back into place with little damage. In 1971, construction of I-91 required relocation of the road crossing the bridge. A local business donated land around the bridge for a small park. Unlike other Lyndon area bridges, this one has the trusses completely walled in.

Sources:
The Vermont Union (Lyndon), December 12, 1879.
St. Johnsbury Republican, June 25, 1941.
Barna, Ed. Covered Bridges of Vermont, 1996, Pages 199-201
Nelson, Joseph C.. Spanning Time - Vermont's Covered Bridges, 1997, Pages 102-103
Conwill, Joseph D.. Images of America - Vermont Covered Bridges, 2004, page 126
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 139