For many years the covered bridge was a familiar part of the country scene in America. This bridge still stands in the White Mountains, New Hampshire, with Mt. Liberty in the background. Photo by Winston Pote from A. Devaney, Inc., New York.
Like many other supplanted or vanishing features of early American life, the covered bridge is enshrined in song, legend and story. It has been a prize subject for etchers and painters. Innumerable post cards bearing the picture of some famous bridge crowd the mail pouches, especially in the New England States.
Just as the railroad sounded the doom of the Conestoga wagon, the Concord coach and the narrow inland canal, so did the automobile end the larger era of the covered bridge. The motorist wanted a steel, iron or concrete ground-hold for his car when he dashed across a river. Although the old bridges were built for good, solid wear, and sometimes a lot of tear as well, they could not stand up against the speedster. They were built for slow traffic. In the old days, teams were obliged to proceed at a walk, under penalty of a fine ranging from $2.00 to $5.00. The motor car, however, had stout allies in bridge destruction in fire, flood, and changes in highway routes. Many of the oldest and best known of the covered bridges were destroyed by fire or high water.
Although the covered bridge, as we know it, is distinctly an American institution, it did not originate in this country. There is a record of a roofed bridge built over the Euphrates in Babylon in 783 B.C. The Tiber at Rome was crossed by several covered bridges. The best known structure of this type in Europe is across an arm of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. It has a steep, arched roof, is built entirely of timber, and is used only by pedestrians.
The covered bridge in this country underwent no evolution such as was the case with the great girder and suspension structures that span our big rivers. It began with a simple pattern and followed that pattern with few changes. The origin is interesting. In the early days when our civilization was young, the ferry was the traditional method of crossing a river. It was slow, cumbersome and inadequate. The farmer who wanted to drive a flock of sheep or a herd of cattle to the market found it difficult. Then began the era of open wooden bridges. The log pilings soon became subject to rapid decay and to destruction by floods and ice floes. Stone piers then replaced the wooden pilings, but these did not prevent the bridge floor from rotting under attacks of the weather. To meet this situation a shed was built over the floor. Soon the shed had sides. Before long there was a path for pedestrians. In this way the covered bridge came into being.
For years there has been a difference of opinion as to why the old bridges were covered. Some have maintained that it was to prevent the horses from shying at the water. Others have contended that the roof was built to protect the driver, while still others believed that the bridges were roofed to provide a refuge from storms. The basic reason was to protect the floor from the elements.
Covered bridges were part of the Dayton scene until the early 1900’s. This bridge spanned the Miami River at Third Street. It was built in 1839 and razed in 1903. Another covered bridge crossed the river at Main Street, and another on the site of the present Dayton View bridge.
