Zumbrota Covered Bridge Society Disbanded

 

September, 2005, Zumbrota, Minnesota - Formed in 1964 to preserve Zumbrota's covered bridge, the Zumbrota Covered Bridge Society has disbanded due to lack of interest, said Society member Charley Buck in a Post Bulletin article by reporter John Weiss.

"I'm sorry to tell you that we have disbanded as of September," wrote Alma Swanson, society president, in a letter to the Vermont Covered Bridge Society. "I feel bad about this as I started the society in 1964, we could not get help, no one would take any office so there was no alternative but to fold up . . . We always had such a nice time when we got together . . . we would have 30 people at a meeting, but so many have passed away and no young people to support us."

Quoting from the Post Bulletin article:"'No one pays attention to it,' Buck said."

"The society formed to care for the old bridge, the only original covered bridge in the state. The city now owns it and is caring for it. The society has about $2,000 left and will divide that between the city and the local historical society."

"The city plans to put on a new coat of red paint . . . because of the town's 150th anniversary in 2006 . . ."

According to the 1989 edition of the World Guide to Covered Bridges, published by the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, the 120-foot bridge, WGN 23-25-01, was built in 1869 using a lattice truss variation.

According to the Post Bulletin article, the bridge was to be burnt in 1932, it being too narrow for cars. The town saved it and moved it to the county fairgrounds. It was moved again in 1970 to the Covered Bridge Park. Then in 1997, "the bottom wood began to rot." (The lower chords?.) The bridge was repaired and put back over the river.