Traders Point Covered Bridge
9126 W 82nd St., Indianapolis
Cover Story
In the 1830s, Indiana’s early settlers began putting the state’s abundant timber to practical use creating covered bridges to cross its waterways. As modern roads and bridges supplanted them over time, the wooden structures became widely endangered, falling victim to deferred maintenance, arson, and natural disasters. In Marion County, Traders Point Covered Bridge stands as a rare survivor that needs intervention to halt its decline.
Local bridge builder Josiah Durfee constructed Traders Point Covered Bridge c.1880, originally located over Fishback Creek in northwest Marion County. The bridge first faced demolition in 1959, when the state highway commission began making improvements to West 86th Street to feed traffic onto a newly built Interstate 65. To save the covered bridge, farmer DeWitt V. Brown bought and moved it to his land nearby, where it remains on private property today.
Of more than 600 covered bridges believed to have been built in Indiana during the nineteenth century, only 90 are estimated to remain. Around the state, revitalized covered bridges are tourist attractions and picturesque sources of local pride, a role local advocates believe Traders Point Covered Bridge could play if it was relocated to Eagle Creek Park. In 2022, Indiana Landmarks funded a study that showed rehabilitating and moving the bridge would cost an estimated $2 million, a significant fundraising challenge to save one of the state’s iconic landmarks.
Mark Dollase
Vice President of Preservation Services
Indiana Landmarks
317-639-4534
mdollase@indianalandmarks.org
Jane Elder
CEO
Traders Point Creamery
317-313-4048
janeek3@icloud.com
Saving threatened buildings takes teamwork. You can be a part of that team. Reach out to local leaders. Let them know these buildings are important to you. And support state and local preservation groups.