Powell Bridge

Built in 1915. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

From the record

“The Powell Bridge is a National Register of Historic Places site that crosses Big Sugar Creek near the community of Powell, Missouri, a rural hamlet in McDonald County, Missouri in the Ozark Mountains region. Louis Bridge Co. and was opened to traffic on August 16, 1915.”
Wikipedia article Powell Bridge, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 3 National Register listings published here for McDonald County · listed in 2011 · category: Structure · built in 1915.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
Address. .04 mi SW of Powell on Cowan Ridge Rd off HWY E, Powell, 64856
When was it listed? April 2011
Category. structure
Township. Center township
When was it built? 1915
National Register reference number. 11000215 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

64 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 64 fires within 5 miles of Powell Bridge between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,791 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 18 were 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
Debris and open burning	24
Arson/incendiarism	18
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	16
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Natural	2
Smoking	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
6 August 1994	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	not named
1 August 1994	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	not named
9 June 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Missouri Department of Conservation	210499-06021-06092020-1230
2 June 1994	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	not named
13 June 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Missouri Department of Conservation	210510-06021-06132020-1505
6 May 2017	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	not named
23 May 1994	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	not named
2 May 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Missouri Department of Conservation	178710-06021-05022019-2300

Every fire recorded in McDonald County

Storms near this property

48 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Powell, the town this property stands in, in 48 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 17 flash flood, 11 thunderstorm wind, 10 flood, 5 hail. 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
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	$15,000	Numerous trees were uprooted or suffered significant limb damage from high winds. A few outbuildings also suffered minor roof and siding damage.
February 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	$10,000	no account filed
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	$5,000	A large tree was uprooted and fell on a home causing minor roof an siding damage.
May 1997	Tornado (F0)	Powell	$5,000	no account filed
July 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	$3,000	no account filed
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	$2,000	A few trees and power lines were downed from severe thunderstorm wind gusts.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	$1,000	Severe thunderstorm winds downed a large tree which fell across state Highway E causing a blockage to traffic.
April 2025	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Route E along a Tributary of Big Sugar Creek was flooded and impassable.
April 2025	Flash Flood	Powell	-	State Highway E and Coopers Road along Big Sugar Creek was flooded and impassable.
April 2025	Flood	Powell	-	Route E at Cooper Hollow was flooded at the low water crossing over a tributary of Big Sugar Creek.
May 2025	Heavy Rain	Powell	-	Storm total rainfall amount of 2.03 inches from May 23 through May 27.
March 2023	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Route E at Mikes Creek was flooded and impassable.
May 2022	Flood	Powell	-	State Highway E was closed due to flooding at Big Sugar Creek and Mikes Creek.
July 2022	Hail	Powell	-	Quarter sized hail was reported.
April 2021	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Highway E was flooded after Big Sugar Creek rose over 5.5 feet in one hour, closing the road.
May 2021	Flood	Powell	-	State Highway E at Big Sugar and Mikes Creeks was closed due to flooding.
March 2021	Flash Flood	Powell	-	The low water crossing on Highway E at Big Sugar Creek was flooded and impassable.
March 2020	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Highway E was closed at Coopers Ford due to flooding.
January 2020	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Excessive rain caused flooding on Highway E at Big Sugar Creek.
January 2020	Flash Flood	Powell	-	State Highway E was closed due to flooding at Big Sugar Creek.
May 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	-	A few large trees were reported down near the intersection of Cowan Ridge Road and Gobblers Knob Road.
July 2020	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Forty seven campers were stranded by rapidly rising flood waters at the Creekside Campground. All were safely relocated.
June 2019	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Big Sugar Creek was flowing out of its banks across Highway 90 in multiple locations. Water was at least 7 inches deep on the road surface.
October 2019	Heavy Rain	Powell	-	The Mesonet station BSGM7 at the Big Sugar Creek south of Powell reported 2.19 inches of rainfall.
October 2019	Flood	Powell	-	The road on Route E was closed due to flooding in several locations near County Road SE E67.
February 2018	Flood	Powell	-	State Highway E was closed due to flooding.
April 2017	Flood	Powell	-	A former NWS employee reported flooding along Route E and Kings Hollow Road at several low water crossings.
July 2016	Heavy Rain	Powell	-	A storm total rainfall of 4.06 inches was measured at the Big Sugar Creek gauge near Powell.
March 2015	Flood	Powell	-	Route E was closed in both directions near Mikes Creek and Big Sugar Creek.
March 2015	Flood	Powell	-	The Big Sugar Creek near Powell was at minor flood stage according to the river gage.
March 2015	Flash Flood	Powell	-	State Highway E about 6 miles south of Highway 76 had about a foot of water over the road.
June 2014	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Route E was impassable on the north side of town due to high water.
October 2014	Flood	Powell	-	Highway U was closed along Mikes Creek between Flag Springs Road and Stay Hollow Road.
May 2013	Flood	Powell	-	Roadways along Big Sugar Creek, Little Sugar Creek, and Indian Creek were closed due to flooding.
August 2013	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Route E was closed due to flooding.
May 2011	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Highway E south of Powell was closed due to high water.
April 2011	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Route E was closed due to flooding.
February 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	-	Strong to severe thunderstorm wind gusts knocked over seven large tree limbs in a campsite near the community of Powell.
December 2008	Tornado (EF0)	Powell	-	A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-0 tornado briefly touched down along Highway E approximately two miles north of Powell. Damage was confined to trees in this area. Wind speeds were estimated at 70 mph.
September 2007	Flash Flood	Powell	-	Excessive rainfall flooded several low water crossings in the Powell area.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts downed a few trees in the Powell area.
May 2011	Hail	Powell	-	no account filed
April 2008	Hail	Powell	-	no account filed
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	-	no account filed
April 2004	Hail	Powell	-	no account filed
May 2002	Flash Flood	Powell	-	no account filed
April 1999	Hail	Powell	-	no account filed
April 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Powell	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in McDonald County

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.

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 11000215 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
McDonald County	All 3 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.