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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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Downsville, Delaware County

If you find errors in the data please contact Bill Caswell.

If you would like to provide information on covered bridges that no longer exist from your state, or adopt a state to work on, we would certainly welcome your assistance. Please contact Trish Kane for more information.

Inventory Number: NY/32-13-01
County: Delaware County
Township: Colchester
Town/Village: Downsville
Bridge Name: Downsville
Crosses: East Branch Delaware River
Truss type: Long & Queen
Spans: 1
Length: 174'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1854
Builder: Robert Murray
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N42 04.574
Longitude: W074 59.442
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.3 miles south-southeast of jct NY206 (N) on NY30/206, then 0.1 miles right on Bridge St. (ahead). South edge of Downsville.

Downsville Bridge, Colchester, Delaware County, NY Built 1854
Trish Kane/Richard Donovan Collection

Downsville Bridge, Colchester, Delaware County, NY Built 1854
Bill Caswell Photo, July 23, 2012

Downsville Bridge, Colchester, Delaware County, NY Built 1854
Richard R. Wilson Collection

Downsville Bridge, Colchester, Delaware County, NY Built 1854
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
20-panel truss. Built by Robert Murray in 1854 at a cost of $1,700, this single span structure contains an unusual combination of a Long truss with an added Queenpost truss. It is the oldest of the six covered bridges in Delaware County. Over the years, recommendations have been made to close the old bridge to traffic and only use it as a foot bridge, but Downsville residents were insistent that it be used as it was originally designed. The span was rehabilitated in 1998 at a cost of $975,000. The two lower chords were replaced with 174-foot-long laminated one-piece beams created by Unadilla Laminated Products. At the time, they were the longest ones ever constructed. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 29, 1999. On May 22, 1999, Delaware County and the Town of Colchester Chamber of Commerce hosted a celebration of the rehabilitated bridge. Wilmer Murray, great grandson of its builder, was in attendance for the celebration.

Sources:
Information received from Todd Clark in March 2010
Wilson, Richard R.. New York State's Covered Bridges, 2004, pages 26-28
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 55

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