details

Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

Home

Roseman or Oak Grove, 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/15-61-07
County: Madison County
Township: Jackson
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Roseman or Oak Grove
Crosses: Middle River
Truss type: Town & Queen
Spans: 1
Length: 107'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1883
Builder: Harvey Pierce Jones and George K. Foster
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N41 17.568
Longitude: W094 08.986
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 7.4 miles west of jct US169 on IA92, then 1.9 miles left on Deer Run Ave., then 2.4 miles left on Roseman Bridge Rd., and just left on Elderberry Ave.

Roseman Bridge, Madison County, IA. Built 1883.
Bill Caswell Photo, August 2004

Roseman or Oak Grove Bridge, Jackson, Madison County, IA Built 1883
September 1968 Photo, Palmer Werner Collection

Roseman Bridge, Madison County, IA. Built 1883.
Bill & Jenn Caswell Photo, August 30, 2018

Comments:
Closed. Also known as the “haunted” bridge, Roseman is where two sheriff’s posses trapped a county jail escapee in 1892. It is said the man rose up straight through the roof of the bridge, uttering a wild cry, and disappeared. He was never found, and it was decided that anyone capable of such a feat must be innocent. In Robert James Waller's novel, The Bridges of Madison County, and the movie of the same name, Roseman is the bridge Robert Kincaid seeks when he stops at Francesca Johnson's home for directions; it is also where Francesca leaves her note inviting him to dinner. The Roseman Bridge was renovated in 1992 at a cost of $152,515.

Sources:
HAER IA-95 - HAER report on the Roseman Bridge by Lola Bennett in 2002
http://madisoncounty.com/index.php?page=the-bridges
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 31