Fisher School Bridge

The Fisher School Bridge, also known as the Five Rivers Covered Bridge, carries one-way vehicular traffic over Five Rivers in the small unincorporated community of Fisher, paired with an adjacent modern concrete bridge that handles traffic in the opposite direction. Lincoln County officially dates the 72-foot Howe truss span to 1919, though some county records conflictingly cite 1927. The bridge takes its name from the now-defunct Fisher Elementary School, whose former site sits as private property just across the road. It is the last surviving covered bridge in the entire Five Rivers basin; two nearby sister spans, the 36-foot Buck Creek Bridge from 1924 and the Cascade Creek Bridge from 1927, have both since been lost. Slated for demolition in the 1970s once the parallel concrete bridge took over primary traffic duties, Fisher School survived through a grassroots push by the local community working with Lincoln County. A 1998 inspection found the aging structure unsafe, prompting a major 2001 renovation funded by a federal grant secured with ODOT's help, which replaced pilings, floor beams, decking, siding, and roofing, with more recent work restoring cedar shingles and siding to match the bridge's historic appearance. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1979, the bridge remains open to traffic today.