Photograph of Downsville Bridge — Photograph by Pfeyzyefp, CC BY 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Downsville Covered Bridge

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. 8 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1922.

From the record

“Downsville Bridge is a wooden covered bridge over the East Branch of the Delaware River in the hamlet of Downsville in Delaware County, New York. Designed by Scottish immigrant Robert Murray, the bridge was built in 1854, and is a single span, timber and plan framed bridge.”
Wikipedia article Downsville Bridge, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 78 National Register listings published here for Delaware County · listed in 1999 · category: Structure.

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. Bridge St., Downsville, 13755
When was it listed? April 1999
Category. structure
Town. Colchester town
National Register reference number. 99000503 - 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

29 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 29 fires within 5 miles of Downsville Covered Bridge between 1999 and 2020, burning about 41 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 2 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10
Debris and open burning	8
Natural	3
Arson/incendiarism	2
Misuse of fire by a minor	2
Recreation and ceremony	1
Smoking	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Equipment and vehicle use	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
13 August 2016	Natural	1.5 acres	Fire Department of New York	N/A
11 August 2016	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
31 July 2005	Natural	2.5 acres	Fire Department of New York	not named
4 May 2015	Power generation/transmission/distribution	2.1 acres	Fire Department of New York	NA
17 May 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
13 May 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
11 May 2014	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
9 April 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.2 acres	Fire Department of New York	not named

Every fire recorded in Delaware County

Mines and quarries near this property

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Downsville Covered Bridge: 2 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Flagstone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Downsville Quarry and Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Downsville Quarry and Mill	Flagstone	Producer
East Branch Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer	Sedimentary
East Branch Quarry	Flagstone	Producer

Every working recorded in Delaware County

Storms near this property

10 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Downsville, the town this property stands in, in 10 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 flash flood. 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 2024	Flash Flood	Downsville	$125,000	Multiple houses were surrounded by floodwaters. Evacuations underway.
June 2007	Flash Flood	Downsville	$25,000	State Route 206/County Route 7 between Downsville and Roscoe was closed due to flash flooding. Heavy rain began significant flooding of this area at 730 am EDT.
March 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Downsville	$2,500	Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees on roads around the Downsville area.
August 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Downsville	$2,000	no account filed
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Downsville	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked a tree down onto wires.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Downsville	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked tree down onto wires.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Downsville	$1,000	Several trees were blown down.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Downsville	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Downsville	-	no account filed
May 1999	Hail	Downsville	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Delaware County

Maps showing this location

8 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1922 USGS Andes quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1924 USGS Andes quadrangle1:62500 - 4 printings
1948 USGS Binghamton quadrangle1:250000
1950 USGS Binghamton quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1958 USGS Binghamton quadrangle1:250000
1963 USGS Binghamton quadrangle1:250000
1965 USGS Downsville quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1986 USGS Pepacton Reservoir quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other 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
	Union Free School	0.6 miles	2004
	Hamden District No.1 School	6.6 miles	2018

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 99000503 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Delaware County	All 78 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.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.