History of Butler County Bridges
Compiled by Jim Blount

The Great Miami River in Butler County was crossed by fords and ferries before the first bridge opened in 1819.

For nearly 30 years, the safest way to cross the river and other streams in Butler County was at a ford or on a ferry. The availability and safety of both depended on stream conditions. High water and swift current forced the closing of both types of crossings. The periodic delays -- often continuing several days -- increased public demands for bridges.

The site for Fort Hamilton was chosen by the army because of a ford then at the approximate location of the present bridge connecting High Street and Main Street in Hamilton. That shallow crossing was believed to have been on an Indian trail that predated the 1791 fort by at least a century or two.

Later, near that ford, were two ferries (the Upper Ferry, or Delorac's, and the Lower Ferry, also called Tolbert's Ferry) connecting Hamilton and Rossville. In 1805, it cost $4 for an annual license to operate a ferry between the towns.

In its natural state, the 160-mile Great Miami was a treacherous river with a swift current -- created by an average fall of three feet per mile. ( The Ohio River averaged six inches per mile.)

The danger of challenging the current was demonstrated by a tragedy at Ball's Ferry in 1819. This crossing was immediately east of Trenton in Madison Township on the Great Miami River, near a former settlement known as Brownstown. The ferry carried travelers on the first state road from Chillicothe (the state capital 1803-1810 and 1812-1816) to the college lands (later Miami University in Oxford).

The ferry -- similar to most in the area -- was a flat-bottomed boat guided across the river by a system of ropes and pulleys and powered by the current pushing against the boat. Davis Ball and then Aaron Ball operated the ferry from about 1818 until 1861, and Peter Schertz until 1867.

In 1819, a group of five men, a boy, a girl and a dog with a team of horses and a wagon asked to be ferried to the east side, despite the swollen condition of the river. At first, Davis Ball refused to make the risky crossing, but the travelers persisted.

At mid stream, a rope snapped and the boat overturned. Within five minutes, the wagon, horses and dog were lost and five people drowned, including Davis Ball.

The ferry -- replaced by a wooden covered bridge in 1867 -- is believed to have been about a quarter mile south of the present Ohio 73 bridge that opened in 1965.

Nearly 4,000 covered bridges crossed the streams, railroads and canals of Ohio. The first was erected in 1809 over Little Beaver Creek at John Bever's mills in Columbiana County in eastern Ohio. Later, at least 50 covered wooden bridges were built in Butler County.

For early residents, the covered bridges were vital connections to the county seat, mills and other outlets for their farm products. Tolls paid for building and maintaining the spans.

Most of the earliest covered bridges were built by private companies, including turnpike corporations, not by local governments. After the Civil War (1861-1865) county commissioners began acquiring existing bridges and building new ones.

The privately-built Miami Bridge over the Great Miami River in Hamilton was the first bridge built in Butler County, opening in 1819.

Later, the Venice & Colerain Bridge, south of Ross in Hamilton County, near the Butler County line, was incorporated in 1830 and opened in 1834. Bridges west of Middletown and east of Trenton were completed in the 1850s and 1860s.

The county's first large railroad bridge -- 700 feet in length and paired with a 665-foot stone viaduct -- was completed in Hamilton in about 1855.

Hamilton's second public bridge, the Columbia Bridge, opened in 1859, and its third, the Black Street Bridge, in 1893.

In 2005 there are hundreds of bridges in Butler County, including 391 bridges and 1,027 culverts on 269 miles of county roadway maintained by the Butler County engineer. Those figures don't include bridges within the cities of Hamilton, Fairfield, Middletown, Oxford, Trenton and Monroe and those maintained by the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The Miami Bridge, 1819-66
The Miami Bridge -- the first between Hamilton and Rossville (now Hamilton's west side) -- opened in 1819. Early historians claimed it also was the first built over the entire length of the Great Miami River. Dayton's first bridge, by the same builder, also opened in 1819.

In 1816, the Ohio General Assembly authorized a private company to build the Miami Bridge. Incorporators included a who's who of Hamilton and Rossville leaders. They raised $30,000 by selling 600 shares at $50 each.

Seven bids were considered. The lowest was $17,000 by Nathan S. Hunt, who won the contract.
No one residing in the Hamilton area had any education or experience related to bridge building. Stephen Cone, a Hamilton historian, said "the science of bridge building was but little known at this time in the western country. There was but one bridge in the state, and that was over the Scioto River at Chillicothe."

James McBride reluctantly took charge. He had neither training as a civil engineer nor any experience in building such structures. McBride drafted maps and drawings after he went by horseback to Chillicothe, Ohio, and Philadelphia, Pa., to observe bridge work there. He submitted a bill of $296.93 for his expenses.

When McBride assumed the task of designing the bridge, he was completing his second term as Butler County sheriff. Later, he became Hamilton's first mayor. He also contributed 50 years of service to Miami University, starting as its first secretary, 1809-1820. He was a Miami trustee from 1821 until his death in 1859, and chairman of the board for several years.

Stone work on the Miami Bridge began in the summer of 1818 on a mid-river pier and abutments. The next summer the frame was raised before adversity struck. Malaria took the lives of some bridge workers, and Oct. 2 a stroke claimed the life of the contractor, Nathan Hunt.

The work was completed by William Daniels, a Hunt employee; Ira Hunt, the contractor's brother, and Dunn Whittlesey, an executor.

The cost reached $25,194.84 -- considerably more than the $17,000 bid -- by the time the unfinished bridge opened to travelers in December 1819.

The first toll was paid Dec. 29, 1819 . During that winter, its sides were inclosed and in the spring of 1820 the roof was completed.

Historians disagree on dimensions of the Miami Bridge. One source says it was 360 feet in length (more than the length of a football field, including both end zones). McBride reported it 380 feet long. Its width was 38 feet.

The bridge -- on the approximate site of the present High-Main Street span -- had two 12-foot thoroughfares for horse-drawn vehicles, and a pair of five-foot pedestrian walkways.

At first it had 17 windows on each side. Later all windows, except one on the north side of the middle pier, were closed after the wife of a county official committed suicide by leaping into the river from one of the openings.

A veteran of the American Revolution, Jonathan Beal, was hired as the first toll gatherer at a salary of $200 a year. His successors included William Phares, Thomas Phares, Robert Hewes, Dayton Low, Richard Easton, Pierson Sayre, Lawrence Smith, Isaac Whistler, George Totten, William Elliott, Asa Burch and Thomas Sterrett.

At $25,000, the bridge cost more than $30 for each of about 900 residents in Hamilton and Rossville in 1819. But it soon proved to be worth the investment. It was popular and profitable.

The major complaint was hours. It was open until only 9 or 10 p.m. -- a hardship for those delayed or conducting late business on the opposite side of the river. A gate at the east end, near the tollhouse, barred crossing.

The original toll rates -- set by state law -- were:
*3 cents for a foot passenger
*4 cents for a horse or mule, one-year-old and upward
*12.5 cents for a horse and rider
*25 cents for one-horse vehicles with a driver
*37.5 cents for a two-horse vehicle and driver
*6.25 cents for an additional horse, mule or ox
Some tolls were paid with a pewter fip, a coin then worth 6.25 cents.
Passage was free for persons going to elections, funerals, worship, delivering mail or in military service.
Annual passes also were available. For a dollar, a man riding horseback and all members of his family, when traveling in the same manner, could cross the bridge for one year. They paid regular tolls for livestock, or when crossing in any other way.
Charges for livestock: 2 cents for each head of cattle; and 1 cent for each sheep or hog.

Nearly 40,000 hogs crossed the bridge between November 1826 and November 1827, bringing in almost $800 in tolls.

Tolls were later reduced, despite the constant need to pay for bridge alterations and repairs because of age and water damage.

Speeding and other abuses to the bridge exacted penalties. Anyone driving a vehicle or leading an animal on the bridge at a pace faster than a walk was subject to a $5 fine.

Carrying fire over the wood bridge -- except a candle or in a lantern -- also cost the violator $5.

The fine was $20 for ignoring the load limits of no more than 20 horses, mules or cows, or 100 hogs or sheep on the bridge at the same time.

Fines for accidental damage and vandalism ranged from $5 to $500, plus up to 30 days in the county jail.

Business was so good that the bridge paid for itself every five years. During its first 25 years, each holder of a $50 share of stock earned $272 in dividends -- or more than five times the initial investment.

The bridge -- then nearly 47 years old -- was destroyed by a flood Sept. 20, 1866 . It was replaced by a temporary pontoon bridge and a wire foot bridge until a new span was completed.

Successors to Miami Bridge, 1867-2005
The Miami Bridge was the first of four bridges at the site of the present High-Main Street Bridge. A fifth is being built and is scheduled for completion in 2006.

The Miami Bridge (1819-1866 -- 47 years) was replaced in 1867 by an $85,000 suspension bridge that had two impressive stone pillars at each end.

The suspension bridge (1867-1895 -- 28 years) was razed in 1895 to make way for a new span. The contract was let Feb. 12, 1867.

The third bridge at the site was an iron truss bridge , 440 feet long and 66 feet wide, that cost $109,000. Its builder, the Toledo Bridge Co., claimed it was then the longest single span highway bridge in the world. That iron truss bridge (1895-1913 -- 18 years) was one of four Hamilton bridges washed away in the March 25-26, 1913, flood.

A ferry and pontoon bridges linked the divided city until a temporary piling bridge could be built between High and Main streets.

Work began May 11, 1914, on the fourth bridge -- known as the High-Main Street Bridge . It was dedicated less than a year later -- May 6, 1915. The 576 by 66-foot structure cost $142,440.

An accident led to improvements and expansion of the High-Main Street Bridge when it was 30 years old. A section of the north sidewalk collapsed under a Hamilton woman Jan. 13, 1945. After a 45-foot fall, she was rescued by a Hamilton police officer who had been nearby.

After that scare, the county and state spent $87,000 to repair and widen the bridge to a new configuration of four traffic lanes, plus pedestrian walkways on each side.

According to traffic studies in the mid 1990s, the bridge handled a daily average of more than 35,000 vehicles.

The construction contract was awarded Nov. 13, 2003 , for a fifth bridge to Kokosing Construction Co. Preliminary work started in December 2003 on the six-lane structure expected to cost $16.4 million. (Three years earlier, a preliminary estimate had been $7.5 million.)

The plan is to build the new bridge in two phases with the existing bridge remaining open to traffic. In the first phase, the northern third of the new bridge was built just north of the existing structure. Traffic was switched to the new portion the weekend of Jan. 7-8, 2005. Tentative date for completion is the spring of 2006.

Railroad bridge and arches, 1855
A railroad crossing was the most challenging engineering task among Hamilton's four river bridges.

The Junction Railroad was incorporated in 1848 and 1849 in two states -- Ohio and Indiana -- to connect Hamilton, Oxford, College Corner, Connersville, Rushville and Indianapolis.

It faced several obstacles -- including some rival railroads that hoped to capture a portion of the promising Cincinnati-Indianapolis business.

The Junction's original plan was to approach Oxford via Darrtown, a more gradual grade than the route it eventually followed. Instead, a rival, the Four Mile Valley Railroad, gained the right-of-way through Darrtown.

Planners and investors realized that building the Junction Railroad directly west from Hamilton (elevation 601 feet) to Oxford (elevation about 1,000 feet) -- a difference of about 400 feet -- posed some engineering problems.

The grade from the CH&D depot in Hamilton for four miles west to the summit was reported to average 65 feet to the mile.

Major tasks included bridging the Great Miami River and climbing the steep Rossville hill (between present South C and South D streets).

John S. Earhart, a Hamilton engineer, decided to overcome the Rossville incline by building a gradual approach from Hamilton on the east side of the river. This would include:
*1. Embankments on the east side of river.
*2. A high bridge of about 700 feet in length over the channel of the Great Miami River.
*3. A stone viaduct -- popularly known as the Arches -- over the low area in Rossville on the west side of the river.
*4. Cutting the railroad into the hillside below ground level for several hundred yards to a point near present Millville Avenue.

A key to Earhart's plan was the 665-foot, 17-arch viaduct -- believed to have been completed about 1855 -- through what is now Hamilton's West Side. The coping and heading stones for the project were purchased from Dayton quarries, but the bulk of the stone was taken from what then was the farm of C. K. Smith on the Eaton Turnpike, near the mouth of Four Mile Creek in Butler County.

Work on the 98-mile railroad began in September 1853. The Junction Railroad opened to Oxford June 4, 1859 . It reached the Ohio-Indiana line at College Corner in November 1859. Later, the railroad was extended to Indianapolis.

Earhart was born March 10, 1824, in Jacksonburg. His family moved to Hamilton in 1826. Following in his father's footsteps, he studied civil engineering at Ohio Farmer's College in College Hill (now a Cincinnati suburb), and assisted his father in projects, including the building and maintenance of turnpikes, hydraulic canals and railroads. Aug. 10, 1863 -- while serving as a topographical engineer during the Civil War -- Earhart died of illness, at age 39.

Although the bridge over the river has been rebuilt twice, the 17 stone arches -- stretching 665 feet -- remain as John S. Earhart's highly-visible legacy.

In 2005, the arches are 150 years old and still carrying trains -- long CSX freights and Amtrak's Cardinal passenger trains.

Columbia Bridge, 1859
Brewers in the southern part of Hamilton led the campaign for the first Columbia Bridge -- the town's second public bridge over the Great Miami River.

There were several breweries in Hamilton in the 1850s, some a few blocks south of the Miami Bridge. The more remote beer producers believed their rivals near the Miami Bridge had an advantage in buying the best barley raised in Butler County west of the river.

Because of their economic and political influence, the brewers succeeded in convincing city and county leaders that an additional bridge was needed. It also was popular because it was built as a free bridge -- meaning there would be no tolls charged.

The present bridge is the fourth at the site. Previous structures also were known as the Columbian Bridge, the Lower Bridge and the Old Covered Bridge.

The name came from the builder -- the Columbia Free Bridge Co. -- that completed the job in 1859. The original was a 338-foot single-lane covered wood bridge.

The 39-year-old bridge broke into two parts and fell into the river during the flood of March 24, 1898.

The second structure was a 400-foot iron truss bridge, costing $61,000. It opened Dec. 6, 1899.
It had a short life -- less than 14 years. It was the fourth Hamilton bridge to be destroyed within a few hours during the March 25-26, 1913, flood.

The third Columbia Bridge -- a steel and concrete structure that cost about $121,000 -- opened in September 1917, and remained in use for 48 years. By 1950, the two-lane bridge was a major traffic bottleneck, second only to several frequently-blocked railroad crossings on the east side of Hamilton.

Work started May 20, 1964, on a new five-lane bridge. The first traffic moved over the completed bridge Sept. 14, 1965 . It cost $1.437 million

In the early 1990s, the Columbia Bridge was Hamilton's busiest with an average of 44,000 vehicles crossing it daily (in comparison with 35,000 on the High-Main Street Bridge and 11,500 on the narrower Black Street Bridge).

Black Street Bridge, 1893
The Black Street Bridge -- Hamilton's third public span -- was initiated by Peter G. Thomson, founder of the Champion coated paper mill. Thomson came to Hamilton to sell land and build houses, not produce paper. In 1891, Thomson knew workers moving to Hamilton's expanding industries would need housing. That year he bought 187 acres west of the Great Miami River along Seven Mile Pike (now North B Street) and divided the former Thomas Rhea farm into two subdivisions. Hamilton City Council accepted the plats for Grand View and Prospect Hill Oct. 29, 1891, and Nov. 17, 1891. The wooded hilltop had been a popular spot for Sunday school picnics and similar outings before it was developed by Thomson.

In promoting residential lots west of the river, Thomson bucked local housing tradition. The area had not expanded much since Rossville -- a town formed in 1804 on the Great Miami's western bank -- had merged into Hamilton in 1855. For years, most industrial growth had been east of the river, and factory owners and their employees had preferred residences within walking distance of their jobs. Thomson promised his land buyers a bridge, the first Black Street Bridge. He contributed $15,000 for the span, which was built in 1892-93.

A year later, Thomson built a paper mill on part of his real estate. Champion Coated Paper Company began production April 15, 1894. The first coated paper was shipped from the mill May 4, 1894.

By 1910, the Hamilton mill -- later part of the worldwide Champion International Corp. -- was regarded as the largest coated-paper mill in the world. By then, the Black Street Bridge was an important river crossing. It was the first of four Hamilton bridges to be destroyed during the March 25-26, 1913 , flood. The two-lane span was the last to be rebuilt (1921), and remains in use in 2005.

Four bridges destroyed in 1913 flood
One of the spectacular aspects of the March 1913 flood was the wreckage of Hamilton's four bridges in a little more than 14 hours.
*1. The first to go -- at 12 minutes after noon Tuesday, March 25 -- was the 20-year-old Black Street Bridge at the north end of town.
*2. Minutes later -- at 12:16 p.m. -- the rushing water swept away the 18-year-old iron truss High-Main Street Bridge.
*3. At 2:12 p.m., the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis Railroad bridge plunged into the river. It collapsed despite the placement of loaded coal cars to stabilize it.
*4. About 12 hours later -- at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, March 26 -- the 14-year-old iron truss Columbia Bridge toppled into the river.

The 1913 flood was "Ohio's greatest weather disaster," according to Thomas W. Schmidlin and Jeanne A. Schmidlin. "Four days of heavy rain falling onto saturated ground caused floods all across Ohio during 23-27 March 1913, killing 467 persons. This flood is Ohios Greatest Weather Disaster because the extent of death and destruction exceeds all other weather events in the states history. Never before 1913, and never since, has so much rain fallen over so much of the state in such a short time. The flood of 1913 set record water levels on many Ohio streams," the Schmidlins wrote in their 1996 book, Thunder in the Heartland, A Chronicle of Outstanding Weather Events in Ohio ( Kent State University Press, 1996).

Middletown area bridges
In the Middletown area, a covered bridge was built in 1854 to cross the Great Miami River at Deardorf's Mill on what is now Ohio 122. This was a two-lane, two-span bridge built by the Middletown Bridge Company.

In 1867, the Butler County commission paid $7,000 for the bridge. One new span was built and other major repairs were made. Also in 1867, the county decided to build a two-span covered bridge just 1,000 feet west of the Deardorf Mill Bridge, and connected to it by a raised causeway. The new 300-foot bridge spanned the flood channel of the river.

The preserved Bebb bridge is one span of the bridge built in 1867 over the flood channel west of Middletown. It was moved about 1886 to Fairfield Road, west of Oxford, over Indian Creek. Eighty years later, in 1966, it was hauled to Governor Bebb Preserve and rebuilt in 1970.

The other span of the Middletown flood channel bridge also was moved to the Oxford area. It was rebuilt over Indian Creek on Brookville-Oxford Road. Its later history is uncertain.

The Manchester Bridge was built a half mile south of Poasttown, on what is now Ohio 4, by the Manchester Bridge Company. An act of the Ohio General Assembly formed this company in 1846, but it is unknown how soon the bridge was built. In 1867, the county bought the Manchester Bridge for $3,000, at which time two new spans were added by J. J. Newman. It was one of several Butler County bridges damaged in the March 1913 flood and was removed a few months later.

At Trenton, the river was spanned by the Ball's Ferry or Trenton Bridge. It was built for the county in 1866-1867 by Bandin, Butin and Bowman for $24.50 per lineal feet. The bridge partially washed away in a February 1881 flood. The rebuilt bridge had a 179-foot wooden span and a pair of 161-foot steel sections. The wooden portion was replaced by steel in 1897.

A few miles south, the Woodsdale Bridge over the Great Miami connected what are now Liberty-Fairfield Road and Wayne-Madison Road. The first bridge was built about 1858 by the Miami Central Bridge Company. It washed out in 1860 with the company still owing $4,000 of the $13,500 construction cost. Stockholders offered to pay off the debt and give the abutments and piers to the county on the condition that the county build a new span.

County commissioners agreed and a new 440-foot bridge, free of tolls, was completed in October 1860. Major repairs were needed in 1866, 1897 and 1899. Despite the renovations, the county engineer condemned it and razed the Woodsdale Bridge in 1900. The new bridge cost $10,000 -- or $2,000 less than the estimate to repair its wooden predecessor.

William R. Foster Bridge
Butler County's largest bridge, the William R. Foster Bridge, was completed in 1999 as part of the Ohio 129 project directed by the Butler County Transportation Improvement District (TID). When built, it was described as "one of the largest in Southwest Ohio."

The 1,400 foot structure carries traffic over Maud-Hughes Road, Gregory Creek and two tracks of the Norfolk Southern Railroad in Liberty Township. The bridge is west of the exit for Cincinnati-Dayton Road. June 30, 2004, in a ceremony conducted under the bridge, it was named the William R. Foster Bridge in honor of a former country engineer (August 1976 to February 1994) who protected the corridor for the highway when its future was in doubt. Bill Foster later was a consultant to TID while the highway was in its planning stages.

In 2004, the TID board had recommended to the Ohio General Assembly that the bridge be named in honor of Foster for his part in making the highway a reality.

Work started on the previously unnamed bridge -- actually two side-by-side bridges -- began in February 1999. The $11.3 million bridge was designed by KZF Inc., a Cincinnati architectural and engineering consulting firm.

Each of the 1,400-foot bridges has six spans supported by five piers, some as tall as 90 feet. Each pier includes three square concrete columns that are almost seven feet wide at the base.
The highway -- also known as the Butler County Regional Highway, the Michael A. Fox Highway and Butler County Veterans Highway -- was financed by the sale of $158.5 million in bonds, approved by the TID board of trustees Oct. 30, 1997.

Kokosing Construction was awarded the contract for the highway and work started May 15, 1998.
A western section between Ohio 4 (Erie Highway) and Hampshire Drive in Hamilton opened Oct. 9, 1999. The eastern end between Cincinnati-Dayton Road and I-75 opened Oct. 29, 199. The entire roadway opened Dec. 13, 1999, eight months ahead of schedule.

The 10.7-mile east-west highway extends from the eastern end of High Street in Hamilton east to I-75 in Liberty Township. The four-lane divided highway has exits at Ohio 4 Bypass, Ohio 747 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

Wooden covered bridge in Bebb Park
ast to carry traffic in Butler County

The 120-foot covered bridge in Governor Bebb Preserve, south of Cincinnati-Brookville Road (Ohio 126), between Okeana and Scipio in Morgan Township, was the last covered bridges to carry traffic on a public road in Butler County.

The bridge -- its age and origin uncertain -- was moved to the park from Oxford Township, near the Ohio-Indiana line. It was on Fairfield Road over Indian Creek, west of Oxford.

As with most of these structures, it had more than one name, including the Fairfield Pike Covered Bridge, the Bath-Oxford Road Covered Bridge and the State Line Covered Bridge.

The Oxford Township bridge was dismantled in 1966 to make way for a new bridge. Under the direction of Bruce Diehl of the Butler County Park District, it was rebuilt over a ravine in Bebb park, and reopened in 1970.

National and state covered bridge directories list its design as Burr arch truss, a popular system developed and patented by Connecticut-born Theodore Burr. But Miriam Wood, author of The Covered Bridges of Ohio, identifies it as a Wernwag truss, the work of German-born Lewis Wernwag, who graduated from the University of Berlin before coming to the United States. "Ohio had a number of Wernwag truss bridges, all of which are gone now except the Bebb Park Bridge in Butler County," said Wood in her 1993 book. "It is interesting to note that only in Butler County was the name Wernwag mentioned in county records in connection with a bridge truss," she added.

"Although old Butler County records do mention Wernwag truss bridges, it was not in relation to the Bebb park bridge," she wrote. "Old county records failed to mention construction of this bridge, but we believe it was built prior to 1873," said Wood of the bridge at Bebb park. "By the mid 1870s, steel truss bridges were becoming popular in Butler County and timber truss bridges were no longer being built."

An unlabeled newspaper clipping (bearing no date and no publication name) in the files of the Smith Library of Regional History in Oxford adds to the riddle of when and where the bridge was built.

The mysterious article said: "The bridge on the road to Bath (in Franklin County, Indiana) was built about 1886, according to F. A. Wardell, a farmer who has lived in the vicinity since before that date." The report continued: "Two spans were brought from Middletown, one to replace an old covered bridge on the Brookville-Oxford Road which was washed away in 1882 during a flood, and the other to form a new bridge over Indian Creek on the Bath-Oxford Road."

"The covered bridge on the Brookville route was replaced about 12 years ago with an iron structure, but the one on the Bath Road was reinforced and continues in daily use," the article explained. If that article is accurate, the bridge at Governor Bebb Preserve has been moved twice -- from Middletown to near Oxford about 1886, and eventually in 1970 to the park in Morgan Township.

Miriam Wood said the undated article helps to unravel the mystery of the origin of the Bebb bridge.

In 1867, according to Wood, "the county decided to build a two-span covered bridge just 1,000 feet west of the Deardorf Mill Covered Bridge and connected to it by a raised causeway. This new bridge was to span the flood channel of the Great Miami River." The builders, Wood explained, "were the well-known Butler County firm of Bandin, Butin and Bowman. They charged $26 per lineal foot (plf) to build this 300-foot bridge" on what is now Ohio 122, west of Middletown.

Black Covered Bridge served Oxford and Miami commercial and social needs

A second covered bridge still gracing Butler County's landscape in 2005 is the 206-foot span at the northern edge of Oxford, just northwest of Morning Sun Road (Ohio 732). It has been known by at least two names -- Pugh's Mill Covered Bridge and Black Covered Bridge.

The Oxford structure is the only Butler County covered bridge on its original site. The two-span bridge crosses Tallawanda Creek, as Four Mile Creek is known in the Oxford area.

In 1868 Butler County commissioners contracted with Banden (or Bandin), Butin and Bowman, at $30.25 per linear foot to build the bridge. The same firm made final adjustments in 1869.

Circumstantial evidence indicates it was built to improve access to an Oxford Township mill, a common reason for erecting covered bridges in the 19th century.

Many years earlier, according to one source, Aaron Austin built a three-story grist mill almost two miles north of Oxford. After a fire in 1845, it was rebuilt by a son, Franklin Austin. Later, it had a series of owners, including James B. Pugh.

A brochure prepared by the Oxford Museum Association says "the covered bridge apparently was constructed shortly after J. B. Pugh built a three-story wood structure in which a 16-foot overshot water wheel powered separate grist and saw mills."

The mill burned in 1885, and eventually the name was changed to Black Bridge, probably because a family of that name lived nearby.

The Oxford bridge has survived the 1913 flood -- the destroyer of numerous bridges in the Midwest -- other challenges from Mother Nature and the heavier loads of the motor age.

In 1950, Ohio highway officials anticipated increased traffic demands on Ohio 732 north of Oxford with development of Hueston Woods State Park. The 81-year-old wooden bridge had to be replaced. Oxford citizens, led by Stuart Fitton, campaigned to preserve the bridge.

"Before the WPA helped the Village of Oxford build its fine municipal pool, the creek under the bridge was Oxford's old swimming hole and is remembered not only by the people of Oxford, but by generations of Miami University students," Fitton said in a letter to Gov. Frank J. Lausche. "Many of these students can recall when, on a spring or autumn hike, stealing a quick kiss from their best girl while the bridge afforded brief protection from the outside world," Fitton recalled. "This covered bridge," he said, "is an integral part of the atmosphere of the Village of Oxford and its environs."

The State Highway Commission in July 1951 said it would spare the bridge. Instead of demolishing the covered bridge, the state ordered a new concrete bridge built upstream. It opened in September 1953. The state officially abandoned Black Covered Bridge Nov. 1, 1954.

Ownership of the old timber span passed to the county, but the Oxford Museum Association has been its adoptive parent for more than 40 years. In 1975, the group succeeded in having the bridge placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Recent efforts have stabilized the structure. Extensive repairs were made under the direction of the Butler County engineer's office. The Oxford Museum Association raised money to match government allocations.