Portersville Bridge Starts A Second Life

After gracefully spanning the East Fork of the White River for 95 years, The Portersville Bridge has recently been renovated and turned into a pedestrian bridge over Fourteen Mile Creek in Clark County.

Originally built in 1912 by the Vincennes Bridge Company of Vincennes, Indiana, the 360 foot long structure towered over the mighty White on the Dubois & Daviess County line until the two counties decided a new bridge was needed. The two spans were carefully dismantled in 2008 by CLR Construction and moved to Charlestown State Park for reuse.

At it's new home the bridge sports a shiny new black paint job and has had it's truss members carefully restored. The bridge now also carries the name Rose Island Bridge as it will be used to connect the park to the long abandoned isle. Rose Island once featured a resort as well as a rollercoaster and was a prominent area attraction until a flood destroyed much of it in the 1930's.

Hopefully the Portersville/Rose Island Bridge is now ready for another 95 or more years of life.

Photo taken by Jonathan Parrish