Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz.

Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz.

Covered bridges have existed for nearly all of man's recorded history. Ancient Babylonians are credited with having erected the first such structure over the Euphrates River about 783 B.C.. It continued to be a popular bridging method with similar bridges becoming common throughout Medieval Europe. Yet, it was not until 19th century America that the covered bridge idea reached it highest degree of use and design variation.

At the turn of the century, the steel and iron industry began to boom in the United States. It greatly influenced bridge design. Engineers began to rely less on wooden bridge structures and more on modern metals. Combined with heavier rail and truck shipments and higher levels of traffic, wooden bridges became obsolete. The few wooden bridges that remained were often bypassed with new roads and metal bridges.

In Missouri, the covered bridge was first used in the 1850s when roads, railroads and overland transportation in general became a practical and important mode of travel. The first covered bridge in the state was built in 1851 in Boone County over Perche Creek on the Boone's Lick Trail. Eventually, 30 covered bridges were built in Missouri. Most of these were constructed in northern Missouri in the years just after the Civil War.

The ravages of time and progress took their toll on Missouri's covered bridge population. Fire, flood, abandonment or re-routing of once heavily used roadways and simple neglect left only eight covered bridges in the state in 1958; today only four are still standing.

In the 1800s and the early 1900s, posters were an important means of advertising that lined the roadways much like billboards do today. The covered bridge, because of the protection it offered, became a prime spot for these richly colored advertisements. Posters advertised everything from the latest miracle cure to the newest sewing machine, from the big circus coming to town and the best turnip seeds.

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