Higgins Ford Bridge

Information and Findings From DHPA Historic Bridge Survey

Bridge History and Significance

The commissioners approved petitions for bridges at Higgins and Reynolds Fords by in March 1899 naming G. C. Huston to survey both sites. In June the board adopted specifications for abutments of "Rock Range" estimated to cost just over $2006 for Higgins Ford. In May 1900, J. L. Riddle of Vincennes and David Braden of Indianapolis presented plans and specifications for the superstructure. The commissioners adopted Braden's plans. At the June letting, Braden secured the superstructure contract at $3,375 for the Indiana Bridge Company of Muncie, and James M. Taylor and Company won the contract at $2.98 per cubic yard for the masonry. Alonzo Higgins, who was named superintendent of construction, reported the satisfactory completion of the stone and iron work at the end of December. The Indiana Bridge Company of Muncie, Indiana, used intermediate verticals of laced channels to subdivide the trusses into most of their eight panels. Eyebars provide the diagonals: pairs stretch toward center span from the top panel point to the bottom of all except the endpost panels; cylindrical eyebars with turnbuckles counter the others in the two most central panels. U-bolted to the lower pins and bolted to pin and vertical plates, I floor-beams carry the originally-timber deck and its 17 feet and 6 inches of vertical clearance over the roadway. In the county's 1997 rehabilitation, the old wingwalls were replaced with concrete ones, the timber deck with a steel grate, and the whole superstructure was painted orange. Listed by Hobson and Associates on their short "Schedule of Historic Bridges" in Orange County in 1997, this rather unadorned structure was built by a prolific Indiana firm. It appears to retain its original members, including its decoratively latticed guardrails. References Warren T. Hobson & Associates , Bridge Inspection/Reinspection Report: Orange County (Indianapolis, 1974, 1979, 1996). bridge nameplate. Indiana Bridge Company, Contract Index, #3651, Indiana Bridge Co. (Muncie). Orange County, "Commissioners Record," 12: 60, 63, 102-110, 306, 321, 328-330, 352, 456.

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: Yes (Select)