Bridge fans are called pontists, and you know what? I identify as one. That’s why this great old through truss in Huntington County immediately caught my eye when Mom and I stumbled across it while combing the countryside for old schoolhouses.
The bridge that carries County Road 800-South across the Salamonie River is known as the Murphy Bridge1. I assume the name comes from P.J. Murphey, a farmer who owned eighty-seven acres just west of the river in 18792. The bridge itself stretches 198 feet across the river, with a nineteen-foot-wide deck and fifteen feet of clearance beneath its upper chord3.
Compared with most of the old trusses I’m familiar with around here, the Murphy Bridge is a relative newcomer. It was built in 1928 by the Pan-American Bridge Company of New Castle, Indiana4. Founded in 1902, the firm took its name from Buffalo’s Pan-American Exposition, which had been held the previous year5.
Pan-American eventually developed a national reputation, but plenty of its work could be found close to home in Henry County. New Castle’s sprawling Maxwell-Briscoe automobile factory was built with its steel, as were schools in Greensboro, Lewisville, Mooreland, Mount Summit, Straughn, and Westwood6. Bridges may have been in the company’s name, but they were hardly the extent of its business.
The Murphy Bridge is a riveted Parker through truss, a design named for Charles H. Parker. Parker modified the widely used Pratt through truss by replacing its straight upper chord with a polygonal one, giving bridges like the Murphy their distinctive, gently arched profile. The change was more than cosmetic: Parkers distribute compressive forces more efficiently than Pratts, and allow the center of the span to handle greater loads7.
That makes the Murphy Bridge interesting from an engineering standpoint, but its pedigree makes it downright special. Nearly a century after Pan-American erected it over the Salamonie, the Murphy Bridge is the only surviving Parker through truss known to have been fabricated by the company8!
Fortunately, somebody recognized what Huntington County had on its hands and the bridge was restored in 2006. Mom and I were looking for other things the day we found it, but spotting the Murphy Bridge was a pretty nice cherry on top of the old schoolhouse sundae.
Sources Cited
1 Murphy Bridge (n.d.). BridgeHunter. Web. Retrieved September 27, 2026.
2 Combination atlas map of Huntington County, Indiana, 1879 (1879). Kingman Brothers [Chicago]. Map.
3 (See footnote 1).
4 Survey Number 069-661-55011 (1985). IHSSI (County Survey). SHAARD. Indiana Department of Natural Resources [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved September 27, 2026.
5 Radford, D. (2013, October 26). A company that earned tons of respect. The Henry County Historical Society & Museum [New Castle]. Web. Retrieved September 27, 2026.
6 (See footnote 5).
7 Astin (2025, June 3). What Is A Parker Bridge Truss And How Does It Work? Evercorss Bridge. Web. Retrieved September 27, 2026.
8 Murphy Bridge Huntington County Bridge 19. Historic Bridges. Web. Retrieved September 27, 2026.
“The bridge that carries County Road 800-South across the Salamonie River is known as the Murphy Bridge. I assume the name comes from P.J. Murphey, a farmer who owned eighty-seven acres just west of the river in 1879.”
Well, it’s certainly not named that because it folds up out of the way when not in use… ;^)
Haha yeahhhh that sentence was a little stupid.
That Maxwell Briscoe factory in the postcard you show is almost certainly the factory that turned into Chrysler’s plant after The Chrysler Corporation emerged from Maxwell-Chalmers.
The bridge being the sole survivor from its manufacturer is interesting stuff!
I’m pretty sure you’re right about the Maxwell Briscoe plant.