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Black or Pugh's Mill, Butler County

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Inventory Number: OH/35-09-03
County: Butler County
Township: Oxford
Town/Village: Oxford
Bridge Name: Black or Pugh's Mill
Crosses: Four Mile Creek (aka, Tallawanda Creek)
Truss type: Long-like, Modified
Spans: 1+
Length: 209'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1868
Builder: Banden, Butin & Bowman
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N39 31.438
Longitude: W084 44.088
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.7 miles north of jct US27 on OH732, then 0.3 miles left on Corso Rd. to dead end on bypassed section of OH732. Oxford Township section 14.

Black or Pugh's Mill Bridge, Oxford, Butler County, OH Built 1868
Bill Eichelberger Photo, January 1984

Black or Pugh's Mill Bridge, Oxford, Butler County, OH Built 1868
Doug Wantz Photo (March 2006)

Black or Pugh's Mill Bridge, Oxford, Butler County, OH Built 1868
Larry Cunningham Photo

Black or Pugh's Mill Bridge, Oxford, Butler County, OH Built 1868
H. M. MacKenzie Photo, March 23, 1951, NSPCB Archives

Black or Pugh's Mill Bridge, Oxford, Butler County, OH Built 1868
Larry Cunningham Photo

Black or Pugh's Mill Bridge, Oxford, Butler County, OH Built 1868
Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Resource Center Collection

Comments:
Closed, bypassed. 20-panel truss. This bridge was originally constructed as a single-span 20-panel bridge, with a Long-like truss (except that counterbraces pass through each chord an act as tension members, contrary to the Long compression use of counterbraces). Early sagging was addressed by the addition of a center pier in 1869 and the modification of the truss to bear correctly on the pier (the bracing approach was reversed in the central 10 panels of the bridge and the braces were fitted to new bearing blocks at each chord). The addition of steel rod Childs truss elements occurred much later in 1925 when the county surveyor sought to extend the life of the truss and address the continued sagging of the bridge. The bridge was bypassed in 1952.

Sources:
Hamilton Daily News, Tuesday, December 30, 1952, page 2.
Wood, Miriam. Ohio Covered Bridge Index, Butler County
Wood, Miriam F. & Simmons, David A.. Covered Bridges: Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, 2007, pages 124-125, 155
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 67

Compilation 2026 Covered Spans of Yesteryear

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