A Road Less Traveled

It be would easy for travelers to miss a short but scenic stretch of the Historic National Road just a mile and half west of U.S. 231 near Putnamville. But those who take the time to ramble down the narrow concrete-paved lane where it splits off from current-day U.S. 40 will be rewarded with dramatic views and a better appreciation of the area’s importance in National Road history.

The most striking scene is the Deer Creek Bridge, an open-spandrel four-arch concrete bridge designed and constructed by the State Highway Commission in 1923. While the view of the creek valley from the bridge deck is impressive, the true beauty lies down below — in the massive piers, graceful arches and breathtaking expanse of the concrete structure. The beautiful bridge is the fourth span to provide safe crossing over the picturesque creek.

The very earliest travelers of the National Road would have descended into the Deer Creek valley along a gently sloping rudimentary road, which led to a broad, flat layer of bedrock that served as a fording point. Around 1879, a wooden bridge with stone abutments was constructed just downstream from the fording point. The wooden bridge was replaced in 1891 with a Pratt thru-metal-truss bridge. When the Indiana State High Commission made the decision in the early 1920s to construct a modern concrete bridge, the Putnam County Commissioners had the 1891 metal span disassembled and relocated upstream to become a crossing for County Road 25 East over Deer Creek. Waste not, want not!

To recognize the transportation history that makes this a unique landmark and promote its preservation, the Indiana National Road Association is nominating the site to the National Register of Historic Places. The new district will be called the National Road Over Deer Creek Historic District. Grants from the Efroymson Family Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation and Indiana Landmarks’ Partners in Preservation program are paying for the nomination.

You can learn more about the Indiana National Road Association at http://www.indiananationalroad.org. For information about Indiana Landmarks’ Partners in Preservation National Register grant program, contact our Western Regional Office, 812-232-4534, west@indianalandmarks.org.