Richland Creek Bridge

The Richland Creek Bridge, officially recorded on the National Register of Historic Places as the Richland-Plummer Creek Covered Bridge (County Bridge #86), was constructed in 1883 by the noted Rush County firm of A.M. Kennedy and Sons, with local carpenter Charles Freeman, at an estimated cost of $3,500. Spanning Richland (Plummer) Creek about two and a half miles south of Bloomfield in Taylor Township, the single-span structure uses the Burr Arch Truss system on stone abutments and displays Italianate-influenced detailing in its gable roof and board-and-batten siding. It stretches roughly 100 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 16 feet tall (the NRHP nomination cites 102 feet). By the early 1890s iron bridges had become the county's preferred technology, making this the last covered bridge built in Greene County and the only one to survive to the present day. The bridge has weathered several closures and rehabilitations: shuttered in 1957, reopened in 1967 after foundation and roof work, closed again in 1990, and reopened in 1998 following a major structural restoration that replaced deteriorated timbers. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 10, 1993, and remains a popular stop for regional covered-bridge tourists.