Bowman Mill Covered Bridge, New Reading Ohio
The Bowman Mill Covered Bridge crosses Rush Creek at what was once a busy milling center in the 19th century. According to the record books of the Southern Ohio Covered Bridge Association, this is known as the Bowman Mill Bridge, but it is also referred to as the Rush Creek or Readington Bridge. The name Bowman comes from the family who operated the grist and saw mills on the banks of Rush Creek just to the north of the covered bridge. The 1875 Perry County Atlas shows that the land around the bridge site was owned by Peter Whitmer and that the Bowmans lived to the north in section 12. There was also a cider mill to the west of the bridge. The builder of this bridge was supposedly Lank Bowman according to the Southern Ohio Covered Bridge Association. The building date is unknown but was probably about 1880 as the other Perry County covered bridges were built about that time.
Bowman Mill Covered Bridge is one of several here in Ohio with arched chords giving the bridge a pronounced camber or humpback appearance. This was obviously a one-span bridge originally with the center pier added later. The bridge is now painted an eye-catching. red, white, and blue in honor of our nation's Bicentennial with blue stars and the dates 1776-1976 on each portal. This work was done in the fall of 1975 under the supervision of George W. Jones of the Perry County Engineering Department.
This covered bridge, variously known as the Bowsan, Mill, Rush Creek or Readington Bridge, was an important part of the transportation system of this area when the mills were flourishing over one hundred years ago. The old structure is still in daily use and still important in both a historical and practical way to the people who live nearby. The bridge is located just three miles west of historic old Somerset Village, the first county seat of Perry County.
Bridge Description
The Bowman Mill Covered Bridge is a two-span wooden truss covered bridge spanning Rush Creek on Winegardner Road (CR 86) in Reading Township section 13/18, one mile south of New Reading and three miles west of Somerset, Perry County, Ohio. This covered bridge has vertical, high-boarded siding with a roofed window on each side, a metal roof, straight portals, and cut-stone abutments and pier.
This bridge is known as the Bowman Mill or Rush Creek Covered Bridge. It is a 6-panel multiple kingpost truss with an open center panel instead of the usual kingpost with a diagonal on each side as is found in most multiple kingpost trusses. The overall length of this bridge is 81' with a truss length of 71'. The bridge is 17½' wide overall with a roadway width of 14' 6" and a vertical clearance of 11'. The height of the trusses is 14'. The roof is sheet metal and the vertical siding is of random-width boards. Roofed windows, about 25" long and 20" high, have been cut into the siding on the northeast and southwest ends of the bridge. These windows were probably cut out after the advent of auto traffic for better vision of oncoming traffic. The floor is in one layer, laid longitudinally except for a few boards at each end which are laid transversely. The cut-stone abutments are laid with mortar and there is a concrete reinforcement on the north side of the west abutment. The center pier is undoubtedly a later addition and is also of stone laid with mortar. This pier is pointed on both sides to prevent debris from piling up in high water. The trusses of this bridge are fastened together with trunnels and bolts. These trusses vary in size from 6" x 8" to 8" x 8". The top chords are 2-8" x 8" and the lower chords are 2-7" x 12" timbers. These chords are slightly arched, giving the bridge a pronounced camber or humpback appearance. The trusses are tapered and notched into the upper chords as was done in Perry County's Parks Bridge. The multiple kingpost truss plan used in this bridge was the plan most commonly used here in Ohio for wooden truss bridges. It evolved from the simple kingpost where the vertical truss member or kingpost is in tension and the diagonals are in compression. The multiple kingpost was used where a longer bridge was needed. The Bowman Mill Covered Bridge has been altered by the addition of the center pier, but we do not know when this was done. Because of the type of construction used in this pier, we know it is not a recent addition. Pictures taken in the 1930s clearly show this pier. In recent years, this bridge was painted a deep "covered bridge red" with white trim on the portals, but in the fall of 1975, the county repainted all their public covered bridges red, white, and blue in honor of the nation's Bicentennial. The portals of the Bowman Mill Bridge are white with blue stars and the dates 1776-1976. This bridge is well-maintained and seems adequate for the light traffic it carries.
West portal, south side of bridge, looking northeast (1976)
