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Thorpe Ford, Parke 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: IN/14-61-07
Parke County Number: PC-16
County: Parke County
Township: Florida
Town/Village: Rosedale
Bridge Name: Thorpe Ford
Crosses: Big Raccoon Creek
Truss type: Burr
Spans: 1
Length: 163' floor, 181' roofline
Roadway Width:
Built: 1912
Builder: Joseph A. Britton
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N39 38.225
Longitude: W087 15.969
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.4 miles east of US41 in Rockville on US36, then right 10.0 miles on Market St. (becomes Catlin Rd.) to the bridge on the right side of the road. East-southeast of Catlin. Northeast of Rosedale.

Thorpe Ford Bridge, Florida, Parke County, IN Built 1912
Richard Donovan / Trish Kane Collection

Thorpe Ford Bridge, Florida, Parke County, IN Built 1912
Dale J. Travis Photo

Thorpe Ford Bridge, Florida, Parke County, IN Built 1912
Bill & Jenn Caswell Photo, March 14, 2020

Comments:
[26-14N-8W]. Closed, bypassed 1978. The decision to construct this bridge is credited to county commissioner J.M. May who promised to build a bridge at this location after travelling the road himself. The road to the bridge remained little more than a dirt path until a WPA project constructed a concrete roadway in the 1930s. Many elephants and other circus animals have crossed the bridge on their way to their winter camp in Peru, Indiana. The bridge was condemned in 1960 and bypassed in 1961 due to the heavy loads using the road.

Sources:
Ketcham, Bryan E.. Covered Bridges on the Byways of Indiana, 1949, page 126
Gould, George E.. Indiana's Covered Bridges Thru the Years, 1977
County History Preservation Society (no longer accessible). Covered Bridges of Indiana, 2002, http://www.countyhistory.com/coveredbridge/parke/thorpeford.htm
Rau, Harold. A Guide to the Covered Bridges of Parke County, Indiana, 2016, pages 64-65
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 21

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