Roann Bridge

Known as the "4th Roann Covered Bridge," this Howe truss span was built in 1877 by the Smith Bridge Company of Toledo, Ohio, replacing three earlier bridges at the same Eel River crossing—built in 1841, 1845, and 1856—that were each destroyed by flooding. It measures 288 feet long and just over 15 feet wide, with painted board-and-batten siding, standing just north of Roann in Paw Paw Township, Wabash County. Added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 6, 1981, it is also a contributing structure of the Roann Historic District. The bridge survived a roof fire in 1972, then on September 28, 1990, an unidentified arsonist set a blaze that gutted roughly half the structure. The town rallied, forming the Roann Covered Bridge Association and raising about $300,000 to rebuild it, with reconstruction completed within about two years. Today the bridge carries a posted weight limit, with a modern parallel bridge handling most traffic while the historic span serves lighter local, pedestrian, and cyclist use, celebrated annually at the Roann Covered Bridge Festival.