Sim Smith Covered Bridge
Parke County, Wabash Township, near Montezuma. Built 1883, 102 ft. long. Saved from removal when U.S. 36 was rerouted around it in the 1920s.
The Sim Smith Covered Bridge, sometimes rendered Sims Smith and also known locally as the Leatherwood Ford bridge, was built in 1883 by Joseph A. Britton for $3,200, underbidding four iron-bridge manufacturers as well as veteran builder J.J. Daniels to win the contract, one of Britton's earliest commissions in the county. The single-span Burr Arch Truss bridge crosses Leatherwood Creek about two miles southeast of Montezuma and carries one of Britton's original portals alongside a later Daniels-style arched portal added at the opposite end. When U.S. Route 36 was realigned in the 1920s, engineers rerouted the new highway around the bridge rather than removing it, preserving the historic span while relegating it to lighter local traffic, which it continues to carry today. Its roof was replaced in 1989. The bridge has acquired a reputation for ghost stories among locals, including tales of a phantom horse-and-buggy and the apparition of a tall Native American woman said to appear near the crossing at night. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1978, as part of the Parke County Covered Bridges Multiple Property Submission, the Sim Smith Covered Bridge remains an active, well-preserved rural crossing in Wabash Township.
