The Eldean Covered Bridge is a historic

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

spanning the

Great Miami River The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee language, Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Nat ...

Miami County, Ohio Miami County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 108,774. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the Miami people. Miami County is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan S ...

north of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

. Built in 1860, it is one of the nation's finest surviving examples of a

Long truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or s ...

, patented in 1830 by engineer Stephen H. Long. At in length for its two spans, it is the longest surviving example of its type. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1975, and was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 2016.

Description and history

The Eldean Covered Bridge is located north of the city of Troy, spanning the Great Miami River between Concord Township and Staunton Township on a now-bypassed segment of County Road 33. It is a two-span structure, mounted on cut stone abutments and a central pier. The western abutment and central pier have been capped in concrete, and the pier has a

cutwater A cutwater is the forward part of the prow or stem of a watercraft around the waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is paralle ...

feature on its northern (upstream) side. The total structure length is , with each span about and wide. The roadway has a width of and a maximum clearance of . The bridge has a gabled metal roof, vertical board sheathing on the outside, and small square apertures framed in each side for light. County Road 33 was laid out in 1847, providing access to a hamlet originally serving the

Miami and Erie Canal The Miami and Erie Canal was a canal that ran from Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, creating a water route between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. Construction on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1845 at a co ...

to the east. The present bridge was built in 1860, and is the second to stand on the site. The bridge trusses were built to a patented design by engineer Stephen H. Long. The

was the first truss structure to be designed using engineering principles, and it introduced the idea of prestressed elements which are used to counteract active load on the structure. This bridge is one of the finest and least-altered examples of this truss type. With the demise of the

Old Blenheim Bridge Old Blenheim Bridge was a wooden covered bridge that spanned Schoharie Creek in North Blenheim, New York, United States. With an open span of , it had the second longest span of any surviving single-span covered bridge in the world. The 1862 ...

in New York, it is also the longest example of the type. On December 23, 2016, the Eldean Covered Bridge was designated a

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Bridges completed in 1860 Transportation in Miami County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Miami County, Ohio Buildings and structures in Miami County, Ohio Historic American Engineering Record in Ohio National Historic Landmarks in Ohio Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Wooden bridges in Ohio Long truss bridges in the United States

Description and history

See also

References

External links