Three Carroll County bridges have officially been nominated for the National Register, which marks the conclusion of a decades-long effort to add the historic bridges to the list following the efforts of Kurt Garner, a past County Commissioner and City Councilman in Marshall County, who has nominated a total of 288 bridges for the National Register since 1997.
The bridges included the Bachelor Creek Iron Tuss Bridge, the Wildcat Creek Steel Tuss Bridge and the Middle Fork Wildcat Creek Concrete Arch Bridge.
The Bachelor Creek Bridge stands as a smaller steel bridge northwest of Burlington just off Michigan Road. The bridge was built around 1905 to cross Bachelor Run Creek and remains as a rare survivor of small steel structures in Indiana.
The Wildcat Creek Bridge stands as an example of a Parker Through-Truss, which were built by the Indiana Highway Commission to improve Highway 75 around 1947 to 1948, and the bridge has been refurbished by the Indiana Department of Transportation within the last few years.
The Middle Fork Bridge was also constructed by the Indiana Highway Commission for Highway 75, and its war-time construction reportedly earned its categorical name of “war bridge.” No steel reinforcing was used due to its scarce supply, but the bridge has been standing since 1942.
– Photos courtesy of Kurt West Garner
