Last updated: August 30, 2024
Place
Stone Arch Bridge over McCormick's Creek
Photograph by Nyttend, via Wikimedia, entered into the public domain.
Quick Facts
Location:
Spencer, Indiana
Significance:
Entertainment/Recreation, Architecture, Social History
Designation:
Listed in the National Register – Reference Number 93000177
MANAGED BY:
State Government
The Stone Arch Bridge over McCormick’s Creek is located in McCormick Creek State Park, in Spencer, Indiana. The stone arch bridge spans McCormick’s Creek above the falls and is a strong example of arched bridges constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
Before the bridge was built there was a road that was originally an extension of the main park road running over the creek. Above the usually shallow, rapid creek, the bridge nestles in a stony canyon roughly thirty feet deep amidst hilly, wooded terrain. The paved roadway, running northwest-southeast, is twenty feet wide between solid stone masonry walls about two feet high above the road surface. At the south end of the easternmost wall is a cornerstone inscribed "Erected under direction of Indiana Department of Conservation/C.C.C. Co. 589/McCormicks Creek Camp State Project 4—1934." The bridge is solidly constructed of mortared roughcut limestone throughout, faced with sawn stone for a more attractive appearance. The round arch spans fifty-four feet and is approximately twenty-five feet at its highest point.
The bridge is the only such vehicular bridge built completely of stone, not faced with the material over a formed concrete core. It stands as an impressive material record of an important area of New Deal public works and recreational development in Indiana state parks during the 1930s.
McCormick's Creek State Park was the first of Indiana's state parks, established in 1916 before the Indiana Department of Conservation was created. Within a few years, an existing building was remodeled into a park inn, some picnic areas established, and a few trails built. The park was very popular, and the Department of Conservation saw to the construction of a swimming pool and bath house near the inn in the late 1920s. McCormick's Creek also boasted group camping facilities.
With the continuously growing usage of the park, more of it needed to be made accessible to visitors. The establishment of CCC Company 589 at SP-4 from November 1933 until July 1935 brought to fruition an ambitious and much needed new development program at McCormick's Creek. The CCC employees worked on reforestation, landscaping, the construction of numerous outdoor recreational facilities, and the supporting infrastructure, which included additional trails and roads. The stone arch bridge was an infrastructure project. By constructing the bridge across McCormick's Creek, the area known as Beech Grove (presently part of the campground) became accessible to park visitors by way of a scenic road.
Records do not indicate why the CCC did not other stone masonry bridges in the Indiana state parks, although they built several arched bridges faced with stone, including a triple-arched bridge at Spring Mill. Most of the stone came from a quarry east of Ellettsville, salvaged from the grout pile, stone which the milling companies had rejected. The sawed facing stone was donated by a company in Bloomington. It took six months, using hand tools, to prepare the stone for the bridge under the watchful eyes of a foreman from Bloomington, Joe Dalton, and a stonemason named Carter.
The bridge was completed in the latter part of 1934 and is currently in use today.
Link to National Register of Historic Places file.
Before the bridge was built there was a road that was originally an extension of the main park road running over the creek. Above the usually shallow, rapid creek, the bridge nestles in a stony canyon roughly thirty feet deep amidst hilly, wooded terrain. The paved roadway, running northwest-southeast, is twenty feet wide between solid stone masonry walls about two feet high above the road surface. At the south end of the easternmost wall is a cornerstone inscribed "Erected under direction of Indiana Department of Conservation/C.C.C. Co. 589/McCormicks Creek Camp State Project 4—1934." The bridge is solidly constructed of mortared roughcut limestone throughout, faced with sawn stone for a more attractive appearance. The round arch spans fifty-four feet and is approximately twenty-five feet at its highest point.
The bridge is the only such vehicular bridge built completely of stone, not faced with the material over a formed concrete core. It stands as an impressive material record of an important area of New Deal public works and recreational development in Indiana state parks during the 1930s.
McCormick's Creek State Park was the first of Indiana's state parks, established in 1916 before the Indiana Department of Conservation was created. Within a few years, an existing building was remodeled into a park inn, some picnic areas established, and a few trails built. The park was very popular, and the Department of Conservation saw to the construction of a swimming pool and bath house near the inn in the late 1920s. McCormick's Creek also boasted group camping facilities.
With the continuously growing usage of the park, more of it needed to be made accessible to visitors. The establishment of CCC Company 589 at SP-4 from November 1933 until July 1935 brought to fruition an ambitious and much needed new development program at McCormick's Creek. The CCC employees worked on reforestation, landscaping, the construction of numerous outdoor recreational facilities, and the supporting infrastructure, which included additional trails and roads. The stone arch bridge was an infrastructure project. By constructing the bridge across McCormick's Creek, the area known as Beech Grove (presently part of the campground) became accessible to park visitors by way of a scenic road.
Records do not indicate why the CCC did not other stone masonry bridges in the Indiana state parks, although they built several arched bridges faced with stone, including a triple-arched bridge at Spring Mill. Most of the stone came from a quarry east of Ellettsville, salvaged from the grout pile, stone which the milling companies had rejected. The sawed facing stone was donated by a company in Bloomington. It took six months, using hand tools, to prepare the stone for the bridge under the watchful eyes of a foreman from Bloomington, Joe Dalton, and a stonemason named Carter.
The bridge was completed in the latter part of 1934 and is currently in use today.
Link to National Register of Historic Places file.