Rural Warrick County has a secret. Tucked in the secluded country-side along the border with Spencer County is one of the nation’s rarest bridges of its kind.
Straddling Little Pigeon Creek — the counties’ geographical divider — Boner Bridge is a rare multi-span, iron bow, string truss bridge, constructed in 1869 by the King Bridge Company. A hidden gem among a thicket of trees, the span attracts area historians and bridge enthusiasts who marvel at its unique architecture.
“It’s believed to be the last bridge of its type in Indiana, and (Warrick County commissioners and Historic Newburgh Inc.) didn’t want to lose that historical value,” says Byron Sherman, who served on the HNI board of directors while the bridge underwent extensive restoration work in 2007. Wooden planks on the floor of the one-lane bridge were replaced, and the trusses were cleaned and repainted a vibrant red.
It is the oldest iron bridge in the state and one of only six such spans in the U.S. At 256 feet long, it’s the longest bridge of its type. It also sits on four A-frame iron piers, which act as supports for the bridge, as opposed to the more standard stone piers.
According to Warrick Publishing archives, the bridge originally was known as Pyeatt’s Mill Bridge, as it was built to connect the mill of Nathan Pyeatt in Warrick County to a proposed town to be called Pyeattsville across the creek in Spencer County. The town never materialized, the mill eventually shuttered, and the rural area thinned out. But the bridge remains.
“It’s extremely remote,” says Anne Rust Aurand, Warrick County historian for the Indiana Historical Society. “You have to know where you’re going to find it.” The closest lanes to the bridge are Red Brush Road in Warrick and North County Road 1000 West in Spencer.
“The Boner Bridge stands as a remarkable tribute to the individuals, governments, not-for-profits, and other institutions that understood” its significance, says Randy Wheeler, another former member of the HNI board during the bridge’s restoration.
“Thanks to their diligence and persistence, the bridge was saved from decay and continues to connect the people of Warrick and Spencer counties.”
