In an age of GPS voice prompts and interstates, the idea of driving through open water feels almost prehistoric and exhilarating. Most Hoosiers will never drive across a ford unless they’re south of Pendleton, but I pass an old one every day on my commute: Priest’s. It’s just southwest of Yorktown.
The White River is Delaware County’s most important waterway. It slips into Mt. Pleasant Township from the east, then winds its way southwest at Yorktown. If you’ve ever driven State Road 32 from there to Daleville, you’ve followed its quiet, curving path from a distance. Priest Ford Road connects to the highway near the area known as High Banks. Out there, the landscape still remembers the old crossings even if most of us have forgotten.
If I’m reading the old records right, it looks like Henry Harrison Vanmatre deeded his land along the river to Alexander Donovan in 18641. Just five years later -and only months before his death- Donovan sold the property to Jeremiah Priest2. Priest must have managed to ford the river that divided his holdings. Before long, the spot took his name.
Jeremiah Priest still owned the land around his ford in 18743. Unfortunately, trying to cross the river remained unpredictable: in the 1880s, Township Trustee Koontz and Superintendent Clancy decided to try their luck. It didn’t go smoothly! The water rose over the backs of their horses and, as one account puts it, “soaked the gentleman nicely4.”
Despite the drenching, the two managed to make it across as proof that Priest’s Ford was still somewhat viable. Still, a number of landowners petitioned for a proper crossing5. County commissioners gathered to view the site in 1895 and determined that a two-hundred foot span that cost about $7,000 would do the job6.
The first bridge at Priest’s Ford was built in 18977. The crossing wound up spanning 259 feet thanks to its approaches. Today, those stats make it the oldest and longest of Indiana Bridge Company’s remaining camelback trusses8! Camelback truss bridges feature a distinctive, polygonal chord that rises in a series of segments that form a hump or an arch.
The Priest Ford Bridge was threatened by the White River’s floodwaters for most of its history. During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps built a nearby levee along the river’s west bank. Unfortunately, the levee began to fail in the early 1950s9. In response, a central support pier was added to the bridge’s deck during a 1974 rehabilitation to try and strengthen it.
In 2000, county officials announced plans to bypass the old bridge but leave it standing and visible from a new, $1.2 million crossing situated about 170 feet to the northeast10. I’m glad they did! The new bridge -an UCEB, in pontist parlance- was completed in 2001. It eliminated a sharp turn where Priest Ford Road angled west to meet the river.
Although you can’t drive across it anymore, the original Priest Ford Bridge still stands tall as a local landmark. Kayakers drifting down the White River pass beneath its aging trusses, and curious drivers on the backroads between Yorktown and Daleville can still catch a glimpse if they know where to look.
I’ve paddled under it more than once. Every time, I try to picture what it must’ve been like to ride through that water on horseback or in a wagon. I’m glad I’ve got a canoe and not a Hyundai trying to make that crossing!
Sources Cited
1 Delaware County, Indiana. (1864 February 27). Deed Book 31. p. 105.
2 Delaware County, Indiana. (1869 February 27). Deed Book 32. p. 317
3 Kingman Brothers. (1874). Map of Delaware County, Indiana. Chicago, IL.
4 Ducked (1881, March 10). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 4.
5 New Bridge (1895, March 13). The Muncie Morning News. p. 5.
6 At Priest’s Ford (1895, March 12). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
7 White River Levee Repair Is Requested (1968, September 5). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 31.
8 Priest Ford Bridge (2017). Historic Bridges. Web. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
9 Iliff, D. (1968, September 5). Corps of Engineers Asked to Reconstruct White River Levee. The Muncie Star. p. 2.
10 Roysdon, K. (2001, April 1). Lacking support. The Muncie Star Press. Pp. 1-4.
