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Two Bayou, Ouachita County

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Inventory Number: AR/04-52-01x
County: Ouachita County
Township:
Town/Village: Camden
Bridge Name: Two Bayou
Crosses: Two Bayou Creek
Truss type: Howe
Spans: 2
Length:
Roadway Width:
Built: 1879
Builder: Franklin, James H.
When Lost: aft 1953
Cause:
Latitude: N33 34.102
Longitude: W092 50.709
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: On US 79 just southwest of Camden.

Two Bayou Bridge, Camden, Ouachita County, AR Built 1860 Lost 1940s
1930s Arkansas Highway Department Photograph

Two Bayou Bridge, Camden, Ouachita County, AR Built 1860 Lost 1940s
Henry J. Pape Photo, October 22, 1944, NSPCB Archives

Two Bayou Bridge, Camden, Ouachita County, AR Built 1860 Lost aft 1953
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
Per The Camden News, February 11, 1930, "The first bridge across Two Bayou on the Camden and Magnolia road was built by James Baird, a pioneer citizen ... The first bridge was built some time in the forties. It was not a covered bridge, however, and when in the march of progress it was decided to replace it with a covered bridge, John J. Ross, James J. Comer and James B. Franklin were appointed a committee to figure out specifications and probable cost of a covered bridge. They were appointed July 8, 1879, and on August 8 of that year their plans were accepted after being modified in some slight particulars. The bridge was built by James J. Franklin, contractor, with the assistance of Thomas Ross, J. H. Carroll and Ike Grindstaff. After the bridge was completed it was inspected by J. J. Comer, Josiah Patterson and John H. White and was accepted by the court on November 16, 1879." An article in the Camden News of January 23, 1936, noted that the bridge may have been built around 1885 by T. J. Ross, Henry Carroll and John Grinstaff to replace one constructed before the Civil War. More recent research by Carolyn Cox of the Ouachita County Historical Society has found that an earlier uncovered bridge was replaced by a covered one in 1879. The contract was awarded to James H. Franklin (1837-1921) a Confederate Civil War veteran who was paid $31.50. The total cost of the project was $250. The bridge was completed in November 1879. The bridge was on Magnoila Road until it became State Highway 3 in the 1920s and then US Highway 79 in 1935. The Arkansas Highway Department proposed to tear the bridge down in 1926, but the local citizens saved it. An article in the Hope Star of December 3, 1929 mentioned the Camden bridge and another on route 24 “between Nashville and Lockesburg, and tourists know many others about the state.” The roof was removed after being damaged by a Greyhound bus on December 30, 1936. [Camden News, December 31, 1936, page 4] The sides were removed soon after. When US 79 was rerouted in 1941, that section of old roadway was given to the county. It was still standing at the time of an editorial in the Camden News of December 18, 1953 campaigned for walls and roof to be put back on to the bridge.

Sources:
The Camden News, February 11, 1930, p.5.
Email received from Carolyn Cox in December 2019
Camden News, August 7, 1947, page 10
The Camden News, August 7, 1947, page 10
Robert W. Scoggin, Historic Resources Coordinator, Arkansas State Highway & Transportation Department
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume VII, No. 1, March 1949, page 12
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume VII, No. 1, March 1947, page 12