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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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Bairdstown or Blairsville, Indiana 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: PA/38-32-24x / PA-65-17x
County: Indiana County / Westmoreland County
Township: Burrell - Derry
Town/Village: Blairsville - Bairdstown
Bridge Name: Bairdstown or Blairsville
Crosses: Conemaugh River
Truss type: Wernwag
Spans: 1
Length: 300'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1822
Builder: James Moore
When Lost: 22 Jan 1874
Cause: Collapsed
Latitude: N40 25.82
Longitude: W079 16.20
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: At the west end of Market Street (SR2002 - LR32179) in Blairsville, Indiana County and Bairdstown Road (SR1016 - LR64264) in Bairdstown, Westmoreland County.

Bairdstown or Blairsville Bridge, Burrell-Derry, Indiana County, PA. Built 1822 Collapsed 1874
Fred Yenerall Collection

Comments:
According to History of Indiana County, PA by J.A.Caldwell (1880), the covered bridge was "erected in 1821-2, by the Conemaugh Bridge Company, James Moore being the contractor. The work was let October 22, 1821; the abutments were completed in September 1822 and by November 1822, the bridge was passable for wagons. The bridge, toll house, &c., were fully completed in September, 1823. The entire cost was $15,000, of which the state bore a portion." The Indiana County history and the 1871 Indiana County atlas both list the length as 300 feet. The bridge was condemned August 1873 and had a pronounced sag. A central pier had been installed, but on January 22, 1874 at 11:25 PM the old bridge collapsed into the Conemaugh River. Per the History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania - Volume 1, p.98, "The old covered bridge at Blairsville, built in 1820, was at the time the finest one in the western part of the country. It was destroyed by the Johnstown flood of May 31, 1889. This information challenges other sources. In Penn Pilot aerial photography dated to June 5, 1939, the existing 358' single span wrought iron or steel Baltimore through truss bridge, built in 1934 (Bridgehunter.com) angles across the stream in an east-southeast to west-northwest orientation, while the abutments can be seen with the footprint of a midstream pier still evident on the upstream side of the bridge, as well as in current aerial imagery, which is the remains of the 1875 replacement bridge. The road carried by the bridge was Route 22 in 1941 on the Type 10 maps of both counties. The relocated Route 22 (SR0022) now passes over the river about ½ mile downstream from the old site.

Sources:
Caldwell, J. A., 1745-1880. History of Indiana County Penn'a., Newark, Ohio, 1880.
Storey, Henry Wilson, History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, The Lewis Publishing Co., New York, 1907.
Leathers, Dorie S., Country Crossings, Indiana County's Covered Bridges, The Historical & Genealogical Society of Indiana County, PA, 2008.
Moll, Fred J.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges - Our Heritage, 2004, pages 138-139
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, June 2007