Built in 1876. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1976. 17 historic map sheets show this location, the earliest from 1904.
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From the record
“The Rinard Covered Bridge, near Marietta, Ohio, was built in 1876. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.”
Wikipedia article Rinard Covered Bridge, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 39 National Register listings in Washington County · listed in 1976 · category: STRUCTURE · significant for ENGINEERING; TRANSPORTATION · built in 1876 · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Washington County.
National Register reference number.76001546- 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.
Then and now
1904 to 1994
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
90 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Tenney, George Champion, age 20, volunteer. May. 1862, three months. Eighty-seventh regiment, company A, private, served four months, mustered out Septem- Ijer, 1862 ; re-enlistment, volunteer. May, 1864, one hundred days. One Hundred and Forty-eighth regiment, company A. corporal, served four months, mustered out 1864, also member of the independent company in Marietta,
Darrow, Allen R., age 38, volunteer. May, 1864, one hundred days. One Hundred and Forty-eighth regiment, first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, served four months, mustered out in September, 1864, one of the original members of the National guards, organized in Marietta in 1863.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Rinard Covered Bridge between
1999 and 2019, burning about 5 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None 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
Debris and open burning
8
Equipment and vehicle use
2
Natural
2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
2
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 1,269 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Rinard Covered Bridge between 1853 and
1975: 1,182 Animalia, 54 Fungi, 31 Plantae, 1 Unrecorded, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. D. Selby, A. Drew, A. L. McElhose and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
7 workings within 5 miles of Rinard Covered Bridge: 4 producers, 2 past producers, 1 plant.
5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Manganese, Chromium, Iron. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Marietta, the town this property stands in, in 68 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 31 thunderstorm wind, 25 hail, 5 flood, 3 lightning.
The reports record 3 injuries. 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.
A double wide mobile home was destroyed after its roof was blown off. The home was located on Warren Township Road 277. Seven people were in the home at the time, 3 were taken to the hospital with minor injuries and later released. The National Weather Service survey estimated winds of 60 to 70 mph from the microburst.
Numerous large trees were blown down by strong wind gusts. The wind was associated with a bow echo configuration to the thunderstorms. Wind gusts of around 70 mph likely occurred. Several homes and businesses were hit by fallen trees. Residents described the aftermath in the hardest hit portions of downtown Marietta as looking like a war zone.
Rains of 2.5 to 4.5 inches fell in less than 3 hours. The 24 hour rain amount from the cooperative observer at Newport was 4.7 inches. The Marietta cooperative observer had 2.94 inches. Streams such as Long Run and Newell Run flooded and forced a few evacuations. Many residents were stuck in their homes. The Newport fire chief said, We couldn't get to them because they couldn't see the bridges. Basically every direction we went there was rushing water, it looked like a whitewater river.||More urban streams such as Goose Run flooded basements around Marietta.
Thunderstorms moved from east to west crossing the Ohio River from West Virginia. The city of Marietta hauled 130 loads of fallen limbs away over a eight day cleanup period. At least two homes were damaged. A dairy barn was heavily damaged in Warren Township. A tree fell onto a car in Belpre.
Downpours associated with severe thunderstorms overwhelmed the city drainage system, causing brief street flooding. Water got into a few basements. The cooperative observer measured 2.6 inches for its 24 hour rain amount, most of which fell within about 2 hours.
Thunderstorms moved from east to west crossing the Ohio River from West Virginia. The city of Marietta hauled 130 loads of fallen limbs away over a eight day cleanup period. At least two homes were damaged. A dairy barn was heavily damaged in Warren Township. A tree fell onto a car in Belpre.
Thunderstorm winds blew a large section of roofing material off a rehabilitation center. Power lines were also blown down in town, causing power outages.
Thunderstorms moved from east to west crossing the Ohio River from West Virginia. The city of Marietta hauled 130 loads of fallen limbs away over a eight day cleanup period. At least two homes were damaged. A dairy barn was heavily damaged in Warren Township. A tree fell onto a car in Belpre.
A strong rise on the Little Muskingum River occurred. The crest was over 19 feet at the gauge near Bloomfield. Minor overflow along the usual low spots of Route 26 was the result. A few sections of the road were closed.
Trees fell in scattered locations about the town. Two large umbrellas, used to shelter kids from the sun, were ripped from their tables and blew away at the YMCA.
The stream gage on Duck Creek near Whipple showed the creek rose above its 12 foot flood stage late on the 25th. The creek crested at 12.4 feet just before sunrise on the 26th and had returned to its banks by mid morning. This flooded sections of State Routes 26, 145 and 821.
The stream gauge on Duck Creek at Whipple crested just over 12 feet late afternoon on the 18th. Bankfull is 11 feet. Minor flooding occurred along sections of State Routes 26, 146 and 821 in central Washington County.
1 paper published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 1,733 issues,
8,183 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by geocoding the centre of Marietta, because the National Register records a descriptive location rather than a street address, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
transversely with raised wooden planks running the length of the bridge. CONDITION UNEXPOSED DATE EXCELLENT DETERIORATED MOVED and straight portals. replace it soon. X_GOOD roof and floor stringers.Covered bridge truss expert, the late Raymond E.
XALTERED as has been the case with other Ohio covered spans.Heavy steel cables have been added both inside and outside this bridge for additional The structure under consideration isa one-span wooden truss covered bridge This is known as the Rinard Covered Bridge and was built about 1875 by the a replacement for the original shingle roof.It is our opinion that the span has vertical, high-boarded siding, a metal roof, cut-stone abutments, strength.We do not know when these cables were added.The floor is laid forced with 2 diagonals added in the center panel.The Rinard Bridge isa approach spans on each end of the bridge.
Smith Bridge Company of Toledo,Ohio, using the Smith patent truss.This CHECK ONE Small windows cut into the sides of this bridge are a later alteration _UNALTERED 12 panel Smith truss, l40' long overall with a clear span of 130' and a truss _FAIR The truss members vary in size from 6"x6"to 6"x1l"and the top chord is is 17'. Ihe height of the trusses is 16'1" and the overhead clearance is 13'. The bridge is in fairly good condition, although the county would like to The outward appearance of the Rinard Bridge seems to have changed little truss was patented in 1867 and again in 1869 by Robert W.Smith of Tipp 3-5"x 1ou and the lower chord is 4-5"x 12".There are small,open wooden AREAS OF
Statement of significance
The Rinard Covered Bridge takes its name from one John Iinard, a livestock Bridge float past his father's farm on the floodwaters of 1874 or 1875. east of SR 26 over the Little Muskingum River east of Marietta, and each Smith truss, only 15 of which remain in Ohio today.
It is to be hoped 1600-1699 1700-1799 Historical ART SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD CONSERVATION ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC POLITICS/GOVERNMENT THEATER AGRICULTURE ARCHITECTURE XENGINEERING SCULPTURE INDUSTRY XTRANSPORTATION ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC MILITARY LITERATURE this site.As a small child Dr.Hune remembered seeing the first Rinard X1800-1899 area residents are anxious that it be preserved.The county is planning a responsible organization can be found to assume responibility for its SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT This was before the Hune Bridge was built.The original Smith Bridge The Rinard Bridge is a popular local landmark in Ludlow Township and the bridge is an interesting study in wooden bridge engineering as each is Covered Bridge), the present Rinard Bridge is the second covered span on H.B.Hune, who gave us much of our information on Washington County's so a Smith truss that was rebuilt from the same plans after the flood.
that this beloved old landmark can be saved for posterity. Company specifications for the Rinard Bridge were drawn up in l87l and _COMMERCE _PHILOSOPHY INVENTION -1400-1499 -1500-1599 _ECONOMICS of this family still own the land there today.According to the late Dr. _RELIGION people of the area to join in the effort to save this bridge.A local _1900- - MUSIC - LAW -COMMUNITY PLANNING -LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE SPECIFIC DATES about 1875 dealer who owned the land nearby when the bridge was built.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 76001546, 20 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 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.
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.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
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.
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