Bridging Past & Present
Retired Ashtabula County Engineer, John Smolen Jr. has a less emotional answer. Covered bridges, he says, were built to make traveling the rugged terrain of the Western Reserve a bit easier. They date back to when early settlers used wood for everything, “They had excess timber and they used it,” he explains.
Whatever the allure, covered bridges have it and in Ashtabula County, there are plenty of them. With 16 covered bridges and number 17 in the works, Ashtabula County already boasts more covered bridges than any other county in the state and is working hard to become the Covered Bridge Capital of the World.
It all started nearly 25 years ago, when county officials began talking about building a new covered bridge using government funds. John, who loves working with wood, was county engineer at the time and thought it was a great idea to add to the county’s 12 existing bridges. He traveled to Frankenmuth, Michigan, to study a bridge there before designing and eventually building the State Road Bridge in Monroe Township in 1983. Its erection marked the first time since 1920 a new covered bridge had been built in the county.
Betty was also involved during that time, working for the county planning commission. She arranged a dedication for the bridge, expecting approximately 200 for the festivities. More than 2,000 showed up. It was then that the idea for a Covered Bridge Festival was born and the county made a commitment to rehabilitate all 12 covered bridges. They planned to seek grant money to build new ones, but interest became so strong they were able to rehabilitate 11 covered bridges and build four new ones without using hardly any county money.
“We did major rehabilitations,” John says. “The goal was to strengthen the bridges so that they would carry heavier traffic—fire trucks, ambulances, delivery trucks—and to retain the historic fabric. Another important goal was to preserve the remaining 12 historic bridges so they would remain indefinitely and then we would become nationally known for our well-kept covered bridges.” Today, drivers can travel over 15 of the county’s 16 covered bridges, including the Harpersfield Bridge. At 228 feet long, the Harpersfield Bridge is the longest covered bridge in the state—for now.
When the county unveils the still unnamed bridge No. 17 in the fall of 2008, it will not only steal the coveted title of the longest bridge in the state, but in the United States as well, coming in at 600 feet long. It will also be the fourth longest covered bridge in the world.
But the county has a dilemma. All of the covered bridges are named for the road they are on with one exception, the Olin Bridge, which is named for a family that has owned property next to the bridge since it was built in 1873. Bridge No. 17 is being built on State Road, which already has a bridge. So, the question becomes what to name No. 17. Betty hopes the commissioners will name the bridge after Smolen, who has been so instrumental to the program over the years.
While John doesn’t like to talk about that possibility, he is more than willing to discuss his work on No. 17. The wood for the bridge is being brought in from Wisconsin, but the $7-million project is being completed by Ashtabula County contractors, which means the money stays in the county. While John is no longer county engineer, he did work to arrange funding and grants for No. 17 before leaving office in 2002.
New or old, John and Betty believe people will be drawn to the bridges for years to come.
“Our bridges are absolutely gorgeous and are something our county can be extremely proud of,” Betty says.
Info to Go
The 24th Annual Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival
October 13 – 14, 2007
25 West Jefferson St.
Jefferson, OH
(440) 576-3769
www.coveredbridgefestival.org
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: $4; Trolley tour $10
Want to go explore on your own?
Click here to download a map of the Ashtabula Covered Bridge Tour.