Windsor Mills Covered Bridge

Settlement in Windsor Township began in June 1799 and March 1800. ^[1] By 1811, the township and village of Windsor Mills had been formally established. The gorge of Phelps Creek proved to be the township’s most suitable source of water power. One of the earliest enterprises was Skinner’s Mill, constructed along the gorge and supplied by a dam built of sandstone blocks.

Because most buildings in the community stood north of Phelps Creek Gorge, access was difficult. ^[1] The only existing route required a lengthy southeasterly detour. To remedy this, a covered bridge was contracted and built around September 1867. The new crossing linked the southern portion of the township with Stoneville, a local quarrying center. North of the bridge stood the Millbank Inn, which over the years served as a hotel, post office, general store, skating rink, and dance hall.

The structure was built as a Town lattice truss using white pine and handmade iron pins. ^[1] It rests on cut stone abutments constructed of sandstone quarried from along the creek and from a nearby quarry.

Steel bracing was added to the bridge in 1945 to strengthen the structure. ^[2] In 1981, the floor system was rebuilt using glue-laminated wood girders to provide additional reinforcement. After floodwaters washed out the roadway at the east abutment in 1987, a new concrete abutment was constructed to stabilize the crossing.

The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Between 2002 and 2004, it underwent a $250,000 restoration and reopened to traffic in May. ^[3] As part of the rehabilitation, glue-laminated girders were added to the existing lattice truss to support both the bridge’s dead load and live loads.