BlockFrom the record
One of 26 National Register listings published here for Cowley County · listed in 1985 · category: Structure · built in 1913.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article
Esch's Spur Bridge
Built in 1913. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 3 mi. S and 3 mi. W of Dexter, Dexter, 67038
- When was it listed? July 1985
- Category. structure
- Also known as. Masonry Arch Bridges of Kansas TR
- Township. Liberty township
- When was it built? 1913
- National Register reference number. 85001423 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Fires near this property
9 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Esch's Spur Bridge between 2006 and 2018, burning about 3,713 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cowley County | 2274 |
| 22 June 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 1062 |
| 6 April 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Cowley County | 2017015 |
| 12 April 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cowley County | 2017017 |
| 12 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 acres | Kansas Counties | KAUFMAN RANCH |
| 1 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 acres | Kansas Counties | MAPLE CITY |
| 30 October 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 2077 |
| 27 October 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 2198 |
Storms near this property
60 of 65 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dexter, the town this property stands in, in 65 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 36 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 6 tornado, 4 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2010 | Lightning | Dexter | $50,000 | Fire from a lightning strike destroyed a barn during the evening hours on the 31st. The contents of the barn were also destroyed, including saddles, a four-wheeler and a quantity of hay. The Winfield Daily Courier contributed to this report. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | $25,000 | A tractor trailer was blown over on Highway 166 4 miles west of the Cowley/Chautauqua County Line. It was unknown as to whether or not the driver was injured. |
| October 2016 | Tornado (EF1) | Dexter | $25,000 | The tornado touched down initially in a soybean field just to the southeast of a farmstead. The tornado than skimmed along at tree top level over the farmstead, before touching down again on the north side of the farmstead, destroying an open ended horse barn and grain bin. The horse barn and grain bin were thrown to the northeast into the road, as the tornado lifted along 191st road. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | $20,000 | At least two power poles were reported leaning and two others were knocked down. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | $10,000 | The emergency manager reported that approximately 10 power poles were snapped along Kansas Highway 15. The time of the event was based on other reports. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | $10,000 | Some trees were knocked down by the gusts. |
| April 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | $6,500 | A total of 13 power poles were snapped along 291st Rd. from 272nd to 282nd roads. This was a delayed report. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | $5,000 | Winds from 60 to 70 mph blew out a window at a rock quarry a couple miles west of Cedar Vale. |
| February 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | $5,000 | Winds were estimated around 65 mph in Dexter, downing two utility poles two miles north of town. The Arkansas City Traveler and the Winfield Daily Courier contributed to this report. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | $5,000 | Two trees were uprooted, and a machine shed sustained rather substantial damage. |
| August 2004 | Lightning | Dexter | $4,500 | Oil tank battery struck. Resulting fire consumed all contents with very little spillage occurring. (Report and narrative courtesy of Winfield Daily Courier.) |
| May 2009 | Hail | Dexter | $100 | The hail covered the ground up to an inch deep, making the ground white. |
| April 2024 | Tornado (EF1) | Dexter | - | Tree damage was noted in a couple of fields with the trunks of hardwood trees snapped. |
| April 2024 | Flood | Dexter | - | There was noticeable debris from the rise of Crab Creek which was strewed on either side of the bridge of a rural county road. A speed limit sign was pushed over by dead branches. Tree branches, limbs, etc. were found along either side of the roadway. No flooding was occurring during the following afternoon. It is estimated that the creek rose near 20 to 30 feet to get the debris spread out as far as it was. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Dexter | - | This was reported via social media. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | - | Trained spotter reported estimated wind gust. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Dexter | - | There was a picture of wind driven hail damage to the siding of a house. The windows were also blown out. Most of the town of Dexter appeared to have this damage. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | - | This was an estimated wind gust. |
| May 2022 | Tornado (EFU) | Dexter | - | A storm tracker for KSN saw a brief tornado that lasted for a few seconds. |
| May 2022 | Tornado (EFU) | Dexter | - | A brief tornado occurred in an open field based on a video sent via social media. |
| June 2022 | Heavy Rain | Dexter | - | A Cocorahs observer in Dexter reported 2.21 inches of rainfall in 24 hours. |
| June 2022 | Heavy Rain | Dexter | - | A mesnoet station near Dexter reported 2.24 inches of rainfall in 24 hours. |
| June 2022 | Heavy Rain | Dexter | - | A cocorahs observer near Dexter reported 2.8 inches of rainfall in 24 hours. |
| April 2019 | Hail | Dexter | - | The ground had about 10 percent coverage. |
| April 2019 | Hail | Dexter | - | The ground was 100 percent covered. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | - | This was reported at Dexter High School. |
| March 2016 | Tornado (EF0) | Dexter | - | There were multiple reports of a brief touchdown. The tornado had since lifted. |
| April 2016 | Hail | Dexter | - | The hail occurred on K-14 and was a delayed report received via Twitter. The time of the event was adjusted per radar. |
| October 2014 | Heavy Rain | Dexter | - | The 24 hour rainfall amount was 3.12 inches. |
| September 2014 | Tornado (EF0) | Dexter | - | Nice cone shaped tornado moved over open country and did not produce any damage. |
| April 2012 | Hail | Dexter | - | This report was relayed from KSOK radio. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | - | Estimated gust reported by a trained spotter. |
| May 2003 | Flash Flood | Dexter | - | Grouse Creek Road impassable. |
| May 2002 | Flash Flood | Dexter | - | K38 under water just north of town. |
| May 2002 | Flash Flood | Dexter | - | Small stream overflowed, resulting in the closure of two roads. |
| June 2025 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| April 2024 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| February 2011 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| April 2009 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| September 2002 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Dexter | - | no account filed |
| April 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dexter | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
3 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Silver Creek Bridge | 5.7 miles | 1987 |
 | West Dormitory-St. John's College | 6.6 miles | 1991 |
| Magnolia Ranch | 7.8 miles | 1973 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 85001423 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Cowley County | All 26 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.