McAllister Covered Bridge
Parke County, Adams Township, near Catlin. Built 1914, 144 ft. long. Built by Joseph A. Britton, then age 77, with his sons providing much of the labor.
The McAllister Covered Bridge was built in 1914 by Joseph A. Britton and his sons, spanning Little Raccoon Creek about five and a half miles southeast of Rockville and two and a half miles northeast of Catlin. Britton, then 77 years old, relied heavily on his sons' labor to complete this single-span Burr Arch Truss bridge, one of dozens he built across the county over his long career. It takes its name from James D. McAllister, born in 1854, who owned the nearby Fairview Hill Farm. Local tradition holds that from certain vantage points along the creek it was once possible to see three covered bridges at once: McAllister, Neet, and Crooks, a testament to the density of historic crossings in this stretch of Adams Township. The bridge's portal still bears the names of the county officials and engineer who oversaw its construction in 1914. It carries a county road across Little Raccoon Creek today, maintained by the Parke County Commissioners and recorded in the National Bridge Inventory. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1978, the McAllister Covered Bridge remains open to vehicle traffic and is a stop on the county's "Red Route" covered bridge tour.
