Harris City Bridge

Information and Findings From DHPA Historic Bridge Survey

Other Information

Decatur's commissioners contracted with George Bussell Company in May 1892 for "a double arch stone bridge" near Harris City. The contract was drawn in rates per cubic yard for excavation ($.25) and masonry ($2.97). In September, Bussell received $1,595.51 for the Muddy Fork structure. In 1904, Joseph A. Stagg received $323 for unspecified repairs to the Harris City Bridge. Four years later, Joseph M. Mathews negotiated at one fell swoop contracts for the repair of twelve county bridges, including that over Muddy Fork south of Harris City. The repairs to the bridge must have been modest, for Mathews received only $30 at completion within a few days of the contracting. In response to damages inflicted by the big 1913 flood, the commissioners accepted the plans and specifications which "J. A. Stagg, Engineer," submitted for "reconstruction of a wall" and fill of the "Harris City bridge." McQueen and Watkins secured a $267 contract for the repair in May, and the county paid them in December.

In 1992, the original parapet stone rails were removed and deck covered with a somewhat-cantilevered concrete slab which widened the deck to 26 feet and the roadway to 24 ft and 10 inches. The reconstructed deck was lined with metal rails. Concrete cut-waters have been added to the up-stream side of the piers.

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: No