Germantown Covered Bridge

Germantown Covered Bridge. chris light/cc by-sa 3.0

This bridge, built 1870, uses an inverted bowstring truss and is believed to be the only one of its kind in the United States. It’s representative of the bridges built during the transition period between timber and iron bridges.

It is one of the earlier bridges David H. Morrison’s designed and built. Morrison would become one of the most important bridge engineers in Ohio in the 1800s. Though he designed other bridges in this style, the Germantown bridge is the only surviving example.

The past has not always been easy for the bridge. The structure was originally built over Little Twin Creek on Dayton Pike, but in 1911, it was moved to its present location on East Center Street to help preserve it.

As it turns out, this move did not ensure the bridge’s continued safety. In 1981, a drunk driver crashed into the bridge, causing it to collapse into the creek. The people of Germantown recovered and restored the bridged, and since then it has been designated as a pedestrian-only bridge to protect it.

Know Before You Go

While you can not drive across the bridge (pedestrian and biking is allowed), there is easy access on both sides with limited parking spots on the west side of the bridge on E. Center Street It is also only about 1/3 mile from the center of town.