Long before Ashtabula County was selected as the site for the nation’s longest covered bridge, the area had already established itself as an enclave for wooden crossings, several of them unique among Ohio’s covered-bridge population.
That inventory included two of the unique double-barrel or two-lane covered bridges, a Conneaut crossing with twin bridges, two Ashtabula Gulf spans that predated the Smolen-Gulf bridge by more than a century and a romantic little gal that stood along the Lake Erie shoreline.
The county’s population of legacy bridges – those constructed when covered bridges were the accepted practice among highway builders – is only one quarter of what once stood here. It is to be assumed, therefore, that there are many Ashtabula County residents alive today who never had the experience of driving through the Crooked Gulf covered bridge, taking refuge in one of the several extinct Pierpont or Monroe Township spans during a rainstorm or sliding under the Fobes Road bridge in a canoe.
During the next several months, the front of this section will feature these “Forgotten Crossings” with profiles of the county’s extinct covered bridges that spanned rivers and creeks, centuries and generations, and vastly different economies and modes of transportation.
The latter two, in many instances, doomed their being. A newspaper article dating from the late 1940s and written by Carl C. Plain predicted “inevitably, all of the county’s covered bridges must be cleared some day from the path of progress. They are quaint and picturesque and have linked two centuries with different modes of travel, but they were never intended to withstand the speed, volume or weight of modern-day traffic.”
Later in that article, Plain declared “Engineers of today would consider it a fine example of efficiency if modern bridges could be constructed to serve with equal effectiveness and low cost over such an extended period of time.”
As county engineer, John Smolen spoiled the first prediction and fulfilled the second. He found engineering solutions that allowed the old bridges to serve most modern traffic. And in the Smolen-Gulf and other four new bridges built under his watch, Smolen capitalized upon the covered bridge’s long-term value and durability.
In preparing this series, I am indebted to the work of Dennis Osborn, who painstakingly assembled a list of the old bridges, and Norma Waters and other Ashtabula County Historical Society volunteers, who compiled photos and articles about the old bridges into notebooks accessible to researchers. Additional photographs came from the Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival Committee and the collection of the late Ladimir Kubichek Sr., who photographed many of the old bridges in their final days.
Alice Bliss, who was recording secretary of the Ashtabula County Historical Society for many years, did a similar series for area newspapers and the society 40 years ago. I am indebted to her thorough research, which provides the basis for what will be presented in the weeks to come.
It is the intent of the Star Beacon to pull these stories and photos together into a book once the series is complete. To that end, if readers have additional photos or stories centering around these extinct structures, we welcome your contributions. Contact me at 998-2323, ext. 297, or by e-mail, cfeather@starbeacon.com.
Feather is a Star Beacon staff writer and photographer.
Covered bridge series
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February 1, 2009
Paying homage to our ancestors’ forgotten crossings
A CARL E. FEATHER column
- Covered bridge series
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Olin Bridge county’s only extant covered bridge with family name
When Barrie Bottorf speaks of the Dewey Road covered bridge, it is always possessively, even though it is a county bridge.
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‘First Covered Bridge’ fondly recalled
It was known as “The First Covered Bridge.”
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Spring Street bridge tackled Gulf divide
Motorists and pedestrians alike cross the Ashtabula River with ease, giving little thought to the structures that facilitate our travel.
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Benetka Road has distinctive redwood siding
In an era when youngsters played outdoors and having fun consumed more human calories than foreign oil, Sheffield Township’s Benetka Road hill provided an ideal spot for sled riding.
- Forgotten crossings escaped documentation Many of Ashtabula County’s covered bridges are well documented, making a list of 48 legacy bridges, including the 12 that have survived.
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Plymouth Township man recalls construction of Caine Road bridge
The first time Ashtabula County engineer John Smolen built a new covered bridge in Ashtabula County, he built it on dry land and then pulled the bridge across the State Road gap.
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The senseless fiery death of Old Number Three
Robert and Catherine Ellsworth were among the first to arrive at the sickening sight of the Blaine Road covered bridge engulfed by fire.
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Kelloggsville siblings
A few miles southeast of Kingsville, the hamlet of Kelloggsville once had a covered bridge that crossed the Ashtabula River on Stanhope-Kelloggsville Road.
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Mill Creek crossing reborn
There is no person alive who knows the Eagleville Covered Bridge like Gary Hewitt.
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Doyle Road bridge has served byway travelers since 1868
Legend states that the Doyle Road covered bridge, 35-04-36, was built to look like a bridge in the Vermont hometown of the carpenter who built it.
- More Covered bridge series Headlines
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