Roseville Covered Bridge

The Roseville Covered Bridge, also known as the Coxville Covered Bridge, is the third bridge to stand at this crossing of Big Raccoon Creek north of Rosedale. Its immediate predecessor, a 250-foot double-span Burr Arch bridge built in September 1866 by the legendary Joseph J. Daniels at a cost of $15,000, was destroyed on the night of April 9-10, 1910, when two young men set it ablaze following an altercation at a nearby glass-sand plant; both were caught, confessed, and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Remarkably, this had been the only Parke County covered bridge ever carried on a fire insurance policy, though the coverage had lapsed by the time of the fire. The county rebuilt the crossing that same year, 1910, with a new two-span Burr Arch Truss structure under contractor Jefferson P. Van Fossen; local tradition holds that the aging Daniels, by then 84 years old and the builder of the original bridge, served informally as foreman on the replacement. The 263-foot bridge that stands today is this 1910 rebuild, still carrying traffic across Big Raccoon Creek. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1978, as the "Roseville Bridge," part of the county's Multiple Property Submission.