Roseville
Bridge
Built in 1910
by Joseph J. Daniels, or J. Brooks
Jefferson P. Van Fossen,
contractor
Location: Located in Roseville, north of Rosedale.
Size: 263 ft long +9’ +9’, 12’ 8. It has a Burr Arch 2
Span truss. The foundation is cut sandstone
Original Cost: $10,000 or $5,725 + $7.00/cubic yard of
concrete.
Repair/Restoration History: Third bridge at this
location, second bridge destroyed by arson fire April 9, 1910.
Bridge History: After the 1865 Roseville Bridge was
burned in 1910, the Parke County Commissioners advertised to
replace it with a concrete bridge. Apparently, the cost of a
concrete bridge was prohibitive since it was replaced by the
present covered bridge. (This seems like a good choice since the
concrete bridge replacing the downstream Armiesburg Covered Bridge
in 1917 collapsed in 1930 while the Roseville Bridge still
stands.
Jefferson P. Van Fossen received the contract to build the
replacement bridge. The brothers J. P. and J. L. Van Fossen were
associated with the county road department and were involved in
constructing four or more Parke County covered bridges and
foundations. J. P. Van Fossen was contracted the same year to build
the Jessup Bridge. Witnesses from the construction site claim the
on-site foreman was Joseph J. Daniels. J.J. Daniels built the 1865
covered bridge. He was 84 at the time the 1910 bridge was
built.
A photograph of the nearly finished bridge shows the portal
lettering. It credits J.P. Van Fossen Contractor, J. Brooks
Builder. J.J. Daniels does not appear in the photo. The on site
witnesses didn’t remember Mr. Brooks, and later portal lettering
photographs show J.J. Daniels listed as builder. The same
photograph shows the sides of the bridge painted white rather than
the now familiar barn red. The portal opening is the familiar
"Daniels Arch".
Through the years photographs and postcards show the bridge
painted red and brown. The portals have been red, brown, white, and
knocked away. The transition from the J.J. Daniels arch to the
present portal may have been assisted by the engraved sign boards
being mounted too low, leading to the flattened arch on the latest
repairs.
Another picture shows the first stone for the 1910 bridge loaded
on a horse drawn wagon. Most covered bridges built after 1900 had
poured concrete abutments. The new abutments were needed for a new
bridge of a different length. Stone abutments are consistent with
J.J. Daniels construction while the Van Fossens used poured
concrete on their other bridges.
Doc Wheat practiced near the west bridge portal. He was a
herbalist with a reputation of producing cures still unavailable to
modern medicine. One of his eccentricities was his distrust of
banks. After his death, his yard and house was riddled by treasure
hunters searching for his Mason jars full of money.
By the 1950’s there were only a few homes left in Coxville and
only one business, the Coxville Tavern. The tavern occupied a small
log room with a stone fireplace and resembled a scene from the
Snuffy Smith Comic Strip. Then Tex Terry retired from his acting
career as a western villain. (He appeared in numerous movies with
Roy Rogers and others.) His first retirement venture back home in
Indiana was development of Mansfield. Then he turned his attention
to the Coxville Tavern. Under his ownership, it was reorganized,
remodeled, and expanded into today’s thriving Coxville enterprise,
the Longhorn.
The cache is now a micro that contains a log. The original 50
caliber ammo can was washed away in the floods of 2008. Please hide
it as well or better than you found it.