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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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West Union, Parke 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: IN/14-61-27
Parke County Number: PC-26
County: Parke County
Township: Reserve
Town/Village: West Union
Bridge Name: West Union
Crosses: Sugar Creek
Truss type: Burr
Spans: 2
Length: 315' floor, 334' roofline
Roadway Width:
Built: 1876
Builder: Joseph J. Daniels
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N39 51.298
Longitude: W087 20.151
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 1.2 miles north of CR500N north of West Union on the east side of bypassed Tow Path Rd. At West Union.

West Union Bridge, Reserve, Parke County, IN Built 1876
Bill & Jenn Caswell Photo, November 14, 2019

West Union Bridge, Reserve, Parke County, IN Built 1876
Richard Donovan / Trish Kane Collection

West Union Bridge, Reserve, Parke County, IN Built 1876
Dale J. Travis Photo

West Union Bridge, Reserve, Parke County, IN Built 1876
Bill & Jenn Caswell Photo, November 14, 2019

Comments:
[6-16N-8W]. 16-panel truss. The West Union Bridge has a noticeable arch along the roofline. Three bridges have existed at this location. The first was the Star Mills Bridge. The second one, the Harrison Bridge, was damaged by flooding in 1876. The West Union Bridge was built to replace it and the Harrison Bridge may have still been standing at the time. The bridge was bypassed in 1964. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and was named a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

Sources:
Ketcham, Bryan E.. Covered Bridges on the Byways of Indiana, 1949, page 90
Gould, George E.. Indiana's Covered Bridges Thru the Years, 1977
County History Preservation Society (no longer accessible). Covered Bridges of Indiana, 2002, http://www.countyhistory.com/coveredbridge/parke/westunion.htm
Rau, Harold. A Guide to the Covered Bridges of Parke County, Indiana, 2016, pages 66-67
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 24

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If the intended use is beyond these purposes, it is the responsibility of the user to obtain the appropriate permissions from the owner stated in the image's credits.