PYRMONT COVERED BRIDGE

photo by M. L. Davies

Pictures Info.

The Pyrmont Covered Bridge is no longer standing … it crossed Wild Cat Creek on or near County Road South 800 West, Section 7, Township 23 North, and Range 2 West, just south of Piermont, Carroll County. Apparently Robert W. Smith, owner of the Smith Truss patent, appeared in person to bid on the contract for construction of the Pyrmont Covered Bridge, the execution of which was turned over to the Wheelock Bridge Company. Erected on this site in 1860, after first being assembled at Toledo, this single span Smith Truss structure had a length of 152 feet, or 168 feet including the 8-foot overhang at each end, with a portal clearance 16 feet wide by 13 feet high. The Pyrmont Covered Bridge was listed in the World Guide (according to G. Gould's 1977 list) as #14-08-09.

Long neglected, as noted by nearly 40-year-old moss-covered shingles, the January 1964 issue of the "Indiana Covered Bridge Society Newsletter" relates the final days of the Pyrmont Covered Bridge. In the article, Dave Chambers recounts that on "Sunday, July 8, 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Wagoner were crossing the structure when they heard a large snap in the plate under the eaves, and felt the bridge settle several inches." Immediately closed to traffic, news of the impending collapse attracted a crowd that actually saw the bridge fall into the creek on the following day with "a terrific, loud splitting and crashing of the wooden timbers;" it was estimated that water splashed nearly 300 feet into the air.

• Covered Bridge Project Resources

• Regarding Covered Bridge Designations