Irishman Bridge

Built around 1846 (sources vary between 1845 and 1847) by builder C.W. Bishop, the Irishman Bridge is Indiana's only surviving Queen Post truss covered bridge, using a modified queen-post design with heavy oak and poplar timbers reinforced with steel rods. It originally spanned Honey Creek on Ferree Road northwest of Riley in Vigo County; its curious name is said to derive from original landowner Adolphus Erisman, whose surname was corrupted in local dialect to "Irishman." As the last standing covered bridge in Vigo County, it suffered repeated vandalism at its rural site, prompting the Girl Scouts, the Vigo County Historical Society, area residents, and employees of the Columbian Enameling and Stamping Company to fund its move to Fowler Park in 1971. There it now crosses an inlet of the lake in the park's pioneer village area, long called Fowler Lake and renamed W. Keith Ruble Lake in 2013 for the county's longtime parks superintendent. The bridge underwent a full restoration in 2019-2020 by covered-bridge specialist Dan Collom of Square and Level Construction and remains open to pedestrians.