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Documenting North America's lost covered bridges

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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. We have designed a form that will assist you in your research and also indicate the type of information we would like to record on each bridge. Once completed, this listing will be a tremendous wealth of historical information. 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: 1874
Cause: Collapsed
Latitude: N40 25.82
Longitude: W079 16.20
See a 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 on the 22d of October, 1821; the abutments were completed in September, 1822 and November 22, the bridge was passable for wagons. The bridge, toll house, &c., were fully completed in September, 1823. The entire cost was $15,000.00, of which the state bore a portion." The Indiana County history and the 1871 Indiana County atlas both list the length as 300' Another source states 500' 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. The covered bridge collapsed in 1874.

Sources:
Moll, Fred J.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges - Our Heritage, 2004, pages 138-139
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, June 2007