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Larkin's Mill (original location), Chester County

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Inventory Number: PA/38-15-11#2
County: Chester County
Township: Upper Uwchlan
Town/Village: North of Downington
Bridge Name: Larkin's Mill (original location)
Crosses: Marsh Creek
Truss type: Burr
Spans: 1
Length: 77' overall, 65' span
Roadway Width: 14' 6"
Built: 1881
Builder: Menander & Ferdinand Wood
When Lost: 1971
Cause: Moved
Latitude: N40 03.63
Longitude: W075 43.33
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: On Larkin's Mill Road (T439). The site is now some 60 feet under the Marsh Creek Reservoir.

Larkin's Mill Bridge (relocation #2), Upper Uwchlan, Chester County, PA. Built 1881 (M1972 & 2006)
Bill Caswell Photo, April 21, 2012

Larkin's Mill Bridge (relocation #2), Upper Uwchlan, Chester County, PA. Built 1881 (M1972 & 2006)
Bob Sheldon Photo, August 27, 2008

Larkin's Mill Bridge (relocation #1), Chester County, PA. Built 1881 (M1972)
Jackson Betz Photo, March 2004

Larkin's Mill Bridge, Upper Uwchlan, Chester County, PA. Built 1881 (M1972 & 2006)
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
8-panel truss. Per Along the Brandywine, the mill was built in 1823 by Richard and Phoebe Bicking. Later Jesse Larkin operated the mill as a gristmill. J. H. Thompson operated the mill from 1902 to 1936. In 1972 it was moved by Mullen and Ranalli, House Movers of New Jersey at a cost of $19,200.00 in 1972, without dismantling it, slightly over one mile to the north to span an intermittent tributary of Marsh Creek. Concrete foundations were prepared at an additional cost of $6,685.00 about 1,200 feet east of Milford Road near its dead end at the reservoir in Upper Uwchlan Township. During its 35 year existence at the site, it never was fully accessible. The visitor had to fight through weeds and briers, then climb up into the bridge. The bridge was dismantled and moved about 1-3/4 miles east-northeast from the second location to the present site near Byer's Station in Upper Uwchlan Township and rebuilt during the spring and summer of 2006. It spans a man-made ditch dug especially for it that empties into Pickering Creek about 150' to the northeast. A portion of the original timbers were used, but there is a great deal of new construction in it.

Sources:
Evans, Benjamin D. & June R.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges, 2001, page 79
James, Arthur E.. Covered Bridges of Chester County, PA, 1976, page 86
Zebley, Frank R., Along the Brandywine, 1940.
Travis, Dale. Pennsylvania Covered Bridges List, updated to 26 Aug 2004, http://www.dalejtravis.com/cblist/cbpa.htm (23 Sep 2004)
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume XXXIX, No. 3, Summer 1981, page 12
Moll, Fred J.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges - Our Heritage, 2004, pages 86-87
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, May 2007
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 105

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