The metal truss bridges I occasionally write about are archaic holdovers from another age. They’re relics, and we’re fortunate they’ve survived at all! Still, I wonder about the crossings that predate those steel structures. About fifteen miles north of my house in the Grant County community of Matthews, a covered wooden bridge still stretches across the Mississinewa River. It’s a celebrated survivor doing what it’s always done.
The New Cumberland Bridge holds an interesting, if tangled, backstory. New Cumberland was laid out in 1833, and a post office followed in 1865. A dozen years later, two halves of the settlement on either side of the Mississinewa River were finally stitched together by William F. Parke’s 168-foot-long Howe truss bridge1.
Just southwest, Matthews was founded in the middle of the east-central Indiana gas boom in 18952. At its height, the place was anything but a sleepy crossroads: the town boasted a dozen glass factories, four churches, three schools, several banks, a steel foundry, a brick factory, two lumber yards, and no fewer than five hotels! Drawn by the promise of the Indiana gas boom, somewhere between five and seven thousand people once crowded in3.
Matthews wound up absorbing the town of New Cumberland. Today, the community still features an abnormally wide Main Street, Massachusetts Avenue, from the days of the boom4. Unfortunately, the gas ran out and, thus, the momentum: by 1904, just forty-nine residents remained in the downtown district5.
By 1910, Matthews found its footing again as it rebounded to a population of about seven hundred. Just three years later, nature reminded the place how fragile that recovery could be when an enormous flood sent the New Cumberland Bridge tearing loose and racing downstream from its pilings on each side of the Mississinewa.
Amazingly, the bridge survived the ordeal almost entirely intact. Teams of horses hauled the massive structure back on rollers, and local lore insists that only a single board was lost in the flood. The journey wasn’t without consequence, though: the bridge had spun as it surged downriver and had to be turned around before being reset in its proper orientation6. It now rests atop a higher, sturdier foundation7.
Over the past century, the New Cumberland Bridge has been repaired and refreshed more than once, while tiny Matthews has settled into a population of around five hundred. That may not sound like much, but it’s more than enough to anchor an annual Covered Bridge Festival that draws thousands of visitors every year! I’ve made it to the celebration a couple of times. Among other draws, a flowing artesian well hides just beyond the overflow parking lot.
Without question, the New Cumberland Bridge is a survivor. Until somewhat recently, it was one of three covered bridges within an easy drive from Muncie, along with the Wright Bridge a mile and a half southwest of Farmland, and the Emmetsville Bridge between Albany and Ridgeville8.
Unfortunately, both those other crossings have been lost to arson in a frustrating and baffling end for structures that had already survived decades of wear, weather, and neglect. It’s hard not to feel a little indignant about it: who wakes up one day and decides the best use of their time is setting a bridge on fire? Beyond the senselessness, it erases a piece of the landscape, a quiet, overlooked artifact gone for good- not by time, but by idiotic impulse.
In a state where so many historic crossings have been lost to neglect, fire, or simple indifference, the New Cumberland Bridge feels especially precious. It’s outlasted boom and bust, floodwaters, and time itself. Standing nearby, it’s hard not to feel a sense of gratitude -and maybe some responsibility- to make sure this old bridge keeps doing what it’s always done for generations yet to come.
Sources Cited
1 Greene, D. (1965, September 12). 3 Covered Bridges Within Easy Driving Distance. The Muncie Star. p. 35.
2 Greene, D. (1974, April 25). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 4.
3 McBride, M. (1996, August 26). The town that moved – twice. The Muncie Star Press. p. 3.
4 Sturdy, Thriving Town Supplants Mushroom City of Matthews (1912, November 4). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 6.
5 (See footnote 2).
6 Mull, J. (1936, July 3). The Muncie Star. p. 5.
7 Greene, D. (1965, September 12). 3 Covered Bridges Within Easy Driving Distance. The Muncie Star. p. 35.
8 (See footnote 7).
