The Mull Covered Bridge is a historic wooden

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 ...

in the northwestern portion of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Built in the middle of the nineteenth century, it is located near Burgoon in Sandusky County. Although it is no longer used to facilitate transportation, the bridge has been preserved and is now a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

Construction

In 1851, Amos Mull owned a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

along the east branch of Wolf Creek in Ballville Township but had a significant problem: the stream hindered potential customers. After he petitioned the Sandusky

County Commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States. A county usually has three to five ...

for aid, his efforts bore fruit: the commissioners agreed to grant $75 toward the construction of a covered bridge near Mull's streamside house, and he agreed to provide the lumber needed to build the bridge.Mull Covered Bridge
Ballville Township, 2010. Accessed 2012-01-23. The design selected was known as the Town Lattice truss; composed of many small diagonal elements, the bridge's framework appears to resemble a

lattice Lattice may refer to: Arts and design * Latticework, an ornamental criss-crossed framework, an arrangement of crossing laths or other thin strips of material * Lattice (music), an organized grid model of pitch ratios * Lattice (pastry), an or ...

because of the criss-crossing pattern in which the diagonal elements are attached. The structure itself is composed of the wood from Mull's sawmill, covered with wooden siding placed vertically to cover the sides;Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 1232. it has a metal roof, and the

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s are stone.,

Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

, 2007. Accessed 2012-01-23. Measuring in length, the bridge was built as a single- span structure; at an unknown later date, a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

support was added in the middle, converting it into a two-span bridge.Moore, Elma Lee. ''Ohio's Covered Bridges''. Charleston: Arcadia, 2010, 105.

Historic site

After more than a century of service, the Mull Covered Bridge closed on 2 August 1962 after a new concrete

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load, loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either si ...

was built to carry the local road that had formerly used the old bridge. Seeing the potential value of preserving the Mull Bridge, the Sandusky County

Historical Society A historical society is non-profit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and promoting the history of a particular place, group of people, or topic. They play a crucial role in promoting historical awareness and understan ...

pressured the county commissioners to order its preservation; the request was successful, and the bridge was kept as a historic site. Twelve years later, the bridge 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 ...

, because it was an example of historic methods of construction. At that time, it was one of just three covered bridges still standing in Ohio's northwestern quarter, and one of just eleven Town Lattice Trusses statewide. Since then, the bridge has not been forgotten: it was

renovated Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, o ...

in 1990, re-renovated in 2015,Carson, Daniel.
Covered Bridge Repairs Nearly Done
, ''The News-Messenger'', 2015-08-03. Accessed 2015-09-06. and today it is part of Sandusky County's park system. Now more than a century and a half old, it is one of Ohio's oldest extant covered bridges. No other covered bridges remain in Sandusky County, although six others — including a railroad bridge measuring nearly that spanned the

Sandusky River The Sandusky River (; ) is a tributary to Lake Erie in north-central Ohio in the United States. It is about longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 and flo ...

— were built and have been destroyed.

References

External links

* {{NRHP in Sandusky County, Ohio Bridges completed in 1851 Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Buildings and structures in Sandusky County, Ohio Former road bridges in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Sandusky County, Ohio Parks in Ohio Wooden bridges in Ohio 1851 establishments in Ohio Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Lattice truss bridges in the United States