Walking along the old truss bridge in Smithfield felt like stepping back in time. The crossing’s wooden boards creaked softly below my feet, but its strength was visible in every beam. Each was riveted with a craftsmanship that’s hard to find today, but not anymore. I’m sorry to say that the landmark Smithfield bridge no longer exists.
Smithfield was one of Delaware County’s earliest settlements. The first Europeans in the area appear to have been William Blunt, Wilder Potter, and David Branson, who built cabins along the White River in 1822 and 1823. The first mill in the township was erected in 1828. A store opened, houses sprung up, and the settlement became known as Smithfield1.
Unfortunately, the village slid back after the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad was platted just north through the newer community of Selma2. Today, Smithfield’s little more than a hamlet with an old schoolhouse and historical marker to stake its claim. Nevertheless, a combined high school that served Liberty and Perry Townships -Wapahani- was built just east of the community in 19673.
Over the years, lots of traffic reached the school from Smithfield’s elderly bridge. Built in 1902, it was one of Delaware County’s earliest examples of a Warren truss bridge with riveted connections. The bridge was also notable for its length- 192 feet, with a 189-foot span. The deck featured a roadway fifteen and a half feet in length, with seventeen feet of vertical clearance4.
Perhaps more than anything, the Smithfield bridge was a monument to Indiana Bridge Company, a Muncie-based enterprise that made enormous contributions to Indiana and much of the United States. Including a whopping 400 erected in 1893 alone, the company built more crossings than any other company in Indiana! It was also the only Hoosier bridge builder that patented its in-house designs5.
I most often crossed the Smithfield bridge in 2010, when I worked the late shift in a call center. After midnight, my friends and I would venture over it to hop on a pontoon and fish for channel cats at Prairie Creek Reservoir. Nights like those were always full of twists and turns, but somehow, the old bridge always led us back home.
The bridge was helpful, hardy, and beautiful, but truss crossings lost their charm for many once the era of the “Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridge” took over. Truss bridges can’t be widened, they need regular painting, and repairing them requires rare, specialized skills. In contrast, concrete bridges are easier to build and cheaper to maintain. They’ve been the standard for decades.
None of the advancements in bridge-building boded well for Smithfield’s Warren through truss. In 1984, the bridge closed for sixty days as it underwent repairs6. It closed again in 1995, then shut down for six months due to safety concerns in 2001. That year, officials in Liberty Township eventually supported commissioners’ plans to replace the historic steel structure, preserve it, and built a new bridge nearby7.
Plans stalled, and the county lowered the bridge’s weight limit from eight to five tons in 2010 after inspectors discovered rust8. After years in limbo, it was closed to traffic for good in 20179. A couple years later, a friend and I drove back, hopped over the barrier, and took photos. As far as we knew, the bridge was to be left in place after it was bypassed.
Sadly, that’s not how things turned out. In early 2021, a hulking new concrete bridge replaced the old truss bridge, which was sent to the scrapyard. With it went a piece of Smithfield’s history: the hamlet will never quite be the same.
The new bridge may be practical, but it lacks the character that made the original so memorable. For over a century, Smithfield’s truss bridge stood as a quiet landmark, a place where people paused, where students posed for senior pictures, and where history felt close.
Now, Smithfield feels like it’s lost a big part of itself- another rural landscape marked by modern efficiency, but missing the old soul that gave it much of its identity. The rest of Smithfield still stands, but it feels different now. The rhythms of life have changed and the pace through town has quickened, but some of its irreplaceable character has been irrevocably lost.
Sources Cited
1 Kemper, G. W. H. (1908). Education in Delaware County. In A Twentieth Century History of Delaware County, Indiana, Volume 1 (Vol. 1, p. 252). book, Lewis Publishing Company.
2 Flook, C. (2019). Lost Towns of Delaware County, Indiana. The History Press [Charleston]. book.
3 Farrell, J. (1967, July 25). Center School, County Landmark, to Be Razed. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
4 Smithfield Bridge Delaware County Bridge 161 (2012, September 21). Historic Bridges. Web. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
5 Slabaugh, S. (1999, February 15). The Muncie Star Press. p. 7.
6 Hermansen, V. (1984, July 17). County Decides to Close Smithfield Bridge for Repairs. The Muncie Star. p. 5.
7 Roysdon, K. (2001, May 14). Officials support new bridge, road. The Muncie Star Press. p. 7.
8 Smithfield Bridge (2010, April 24). The Muncie Star Press. p. 4.
9 Bridge closed to traffic immediately (2017, September 21). The Muncie Star Press. p. A2.
The engineering from 1902 was impressive. They would have had no concept of the loads that bridge would need to accommodate, but accommodate them it did! And for a long time, too.
How very true! It did its job.
I can’t imagine many heavy trucks go through Smithfield, but busses do. Still, it was sad to see it go.