Whites Bridge

Whites Bridge carried Whites Bridge Road across the Flat River in Keene Township for 144 years, the third bridge to stand at a crossing first established in the 1840s by Levi T. White with a simple log corduroy bridge. The covered bridge that became a local landmark was built in 1869 for $1,700 and stood as one of Michigan's most photographed covered bridges for nearly a century and a half, listed as a Michigan State Historic Site.

That history came to an abrupt end on the morning of July 7, 2013, when the bridge was completely destroyed by a fire that investigators determined was arson, with crime lab tests confirming an accelerant had been used. Rather than accept the loss, the Whites Bridge Historical Society and the Ionia County Road Commission spent years pursuing a full reconstruction, hiring engineering firm AECOM in 2015 to design a faithful replica superstructure for the surviving abutments. Community fundraising and Michigan Department of Transportation grants raised more than $475,000 for the project, and the rebuilt bridge — now fitted with lighting and security cameras to guard against a repeat of 2013 — reopened to traffic in June 2020, a near-identical twin of the bridge Ionia County lost.