After 65 years on the property of a landowner who saved it from demolition, plans are in motion to move an historic covered bridge to Eagle Creek Park.
There’s just one hitch; organizers are still about $1 million short of the $2 million needed for the relocation and upkeep of the Trader’s Point Covered Bridge.
“We are still trying to line up some financial support from foundations,” said Jane Elder, who heads Eagle Creek Nature Conservancy and Preservation, Inc. The bridge has been donated to Indy Parks and Recreation and will be installed at Eagle Creek Park over Lilly Lake when it is moved.
The Lilly Foundation has already pledged $1million to the project, Elder said. Indiana Landmarks recently named the covered bridge as one of the 10 most endangered landmarks in the state.
The bridge was rescued by DeWitt Brown, Sr., in 1959, when property for I-65 construction was being acquired by the state and I-465 was being built.
Erected in 1880, the bridge spanned Fishback Creek near 86th Street and Brown, who owned a wire box company, moved it about a quarter mile west to his farm to replace a rickety bridge that spanned a creek. It has remained there ever a since but is not accessible to the public.
Brown’s granddaughter, Judith Fletcher, 76, said Brown saved the bridge because he felt it belonged in the neighborhood.
‘He had strong sense of what was good and what should not be wasted,” she said. “He was amazing and eccentric.”
As a child Fletcher and her friends played on the bridge and caught frogs in the creek. For a time, trespassers commonly vandalized the bridge and marked it with graffiti, so Brown installed a siren and light system to scare them off, Fletcher said.
Brown died in 1972, but the farm is still owned by the Brown family; Judith’s sister, Wendy, lives there and rents a piece of it to a tenant.
The bridge is a 40-foot-long truss structure, one of 14 built by Nobleville businessman and bridge builder Josiah Durfee. More than 600 covered bridges were built in Indiana during the nineteenth century but only an estimated 90 remain, said Mark Dollase, vice president of preservation services for Indiana Landmarks. He said he knew of no other bridges of that era in Marion County. The covered bridge at the Indiana State Fairgrounds was built in 2008.
In a letter to Indy Parks, the Eagle Creek Park Advisory Committee said the bridge was a perfect fit at Eagle Creek, the country’s largest municipal park.
“It would certainly be a focal point for gatherings, located adjacent to a shelter, pergola, parking and restrooms,” the letter read. “It would attract larger numbers of patrons, and further encourage broader community engagement.”
Indiana Landmarks hired Kurdziel Barker Engineering to conduct a cost study of the move, Dollese said.
The firm estimated it would cost $1.3 million to take apart the bridge, move it and put it back together in Eagle Creek Park. It would cost another almost $500,000 for maintenance like a new roof and sidings. Design costs would add another $170,000.
Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email at john.tuohy@indystar.com and follow on X/Twitter and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Effort to move 145-year-old covered bridge to Eagle Creek Park seeks donors
Reporting by John Tuohy, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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