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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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Cedar or Casper (relocated), Madison 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: IA/15-61-03x
County: Madison County
Township: Union
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Cedar or Casper (relocated)
Crosses: Cedar Creek
Truss type: Town
Spans: 1
Length: 76'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1883 (M1921)
Builder: Harvey Pierce Jones and George K. Foster
When Lost: 03 Sep 2002
Cause: Arson
Latitude: N41 21.945
Longitude: W093 59.453
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.5 miles east of jct with US169 on IA92 on the north side of Winterset, then 1.8 miles north on Cedar Bridge Rd. North-northeast of Winterset.

Cedar or Casper Bridge, Union, Madison County, IA Built 1883 Arson 3 Sep 2002
Tom and Linda Burns Photo, August 1995

Cedar or Casper Bridge, Union, Madison County, IA Built 1883 (M1921-22) Arson 3 Sep 2002
Jeanne Hickam Photo, NSPCB Archives
Cedar or Casper Bridge, Union, Madison County, IA Built 1883 (M1921) Arson 03 Sep 2002
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
The first Cedar covered bridge was built in 1883 by Harvey P. Jones and George K. Foster. It was Madison County's last covered bridge open to vehicles. It was originally built over Cedar Creek north of Winterset. Per Mrs. Fred Hartsook's article, the bridge was on the DeSoto Road (now route 169) before being moved to a new location over the same creek in 1921. The Winterset Chamber of Commerce has an image of the bridge being moved by a steam tractor. It was bypassed in 1964. In Robert James Waller's novel, The Bridges of Madison County, Cedar Bridge is where Francesca Johnson goes to meet Robert Kincaid to help him take photographs. Cedar is also the bridge on the novel’s cover. The bridge was renovated in 1998 at a cost of $128,073. It was destroyed by an arsonist on September 3, 2002. A replica of the original bridge was built from the original plans using authentic materials and methods by Herberger Construction Company. The second bridge was dedicated on October 9, 2004. That one was lost to arson on April 15, 2017. The third incarnation of the bridge was built in 2019 on steel I-beams without a functional truss and was assigned IA/15-61-B. It was opened to the public during the 50th Madison County Covered Bridge Festival on October 12, 2019.

Sources:
HAER IA-95 - HAER report on the Roseman Bridge by Lola Bennett in 2002
Hartsook, Mrs. Fred, Winterset Madisonian, Interesting History Behind Covered Bridges in County, June 18, 1956.
http://madisoncounty.com/index.php?page=the-bridges

Compilation 2026 Covered Spans of Yesteryear

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