Rush Creek Covered Bridge

The Rush Creek Covered Bridge was built in 1904 by William Hendricks, the first of three covered bridges Hendricks would build in the county, followed by the Wilkins Mill Covered Bridge in 1906 and the Mill Creek Covered Bridge in 1907. All three share a distinctive, unusually shallow portal arch that sets them apart from the more dramatic arches used by builders J.J. Daniels and J.A. Britton elsewhere in the county. This single-span Burr Arch Truss bridge crosses Rush Creek about a mile and a half south of Tangier in Liberty Township, and it was rebuilt and reinforced in 1977 to extend its service life. Nearby levees have since been constructed to help manage flooding that has historically affected this stretch of the creek. The same year the Rush Creek Bridge was built, J.J. Daniels was completing the Neet Covered Bridge over Little Raccoon Creek elsewhere in the county, illustrating the pace of bridge construction underway across Parke County in the early 1900s. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1978, as part of the Parke County Covered Bridges Multiple Property Submission, the Rush Creek Covered Bridge remains open and in active use as a rural crossing today.