A well-appointed jeweler will inform you that there are two elements to a good piece of jewelry, those being the mounting and the gem itself.

The Wilson Bridge, which is located .6 miles west of county road 450 west on county roads 300 north, is an example of this.

The western approach to the bridge includes the western-most border of the Rural Historic District, created on December nineteenth, 2002 to enshrine the area which stands as one of Carroll County’s birthplaces, encompassing the Daniel and Magdalena McCain home constructed in 1852 by Daniel McCain, Dan’s great-great-uncle, the High Bridge, which is another virtual museum piece itself—one of the few remaining spans on the former Monon Railroad, the Morning Heights Cemetery, formerly the Milroy Plot, containing the remains of Samuel Milroy, founder of both the county and city in 1828, enlarged in the 1890s when the remains of those laid to rest in the former City Cemetery were transferred to that site, and the Deer Creek valley itself, which inspired the Hoosier Poet James Whitcomb Riley to craft works such as “Knee-Deep in June”, “Herr Weiser”, “The Beautiful City”, and “On the Banks of Deer Creek.”

​

The eastern approach of this historic linkage is also a capsulized step back in time due to the small but very noticeable German Baptist colony which eschews modern transportation and amenities such as automobiles and electricity.  

One more facet of the “mounting” of this link is a section of Carroll County which was almost incorporated into a state park in honor of the veterans of the county, as per articles in the Citizen of November twenty-ninth of 1945 and January tenth of 1946.  The Wilson Bridge was a creation of a Carroll County architect Craven Smith, who was ironically a brother of Dr. Wycliffe Smith, compatriot of Riley, and the firm responsible for the span was the Lafayette Bridge Company, the shops of which were located along Earl Avenue and the offices of which were situated on Ferry Street. 

Had it not been for the consistent lobbying of Robert Royster, whose ancestors had moved into Carroll County from Virginia to settle on the eastern bank of the Deer Creek and the namesake for the well-used ford and John D. Wilson, another Virginian born in Harding County, Virginia on October twenty-fourth, 1828, and who located with his father Isaac on a farm two miles east of Delphi in 1832. Wilson spent five years in the gold fields then settled down, marrying Nellie Huggins, November thirteenth, 1865. He was a stockholder in the A.T. Bowen Bank and prominent Mason and died in Delphi at his residence November sixteenth, 1909. (Odell, p. 189).

According to the National Register documentation on the bridge, Wilson oversaw the construction of this span. Two other local contractors, John C. O’Connor and James Peirce, were responsible for the earthen approaches and masonry; the latter being responsible for the approaches and the former the masonry.

The span was in place by April of 1898 sans the fill to the east, the absence of which generated a complaining petition.

Having weathered the storm of nearly a century of consistent usage, the bridge became the focus of another Firestorm of controversy similar to the one which gave it its birth, and in 1995 the County Commissioners vowed to replace it. This generated a counter-move consisting of the formation of a well-organized group of locals and others interested in saving this historic jewel known as the Bridge Coalition, headed up by Paul Brandenburg and the Mears family who were occupants in the former Royster homestead. There were evening parties consisting of cook-outs and hikes on the west end of the bridge which attracted national attention from those in the Department of Interior.

The aforementioned bridge coalition recommended National Register status for the bridge which was accomplished in 2001. Following other correspondence with similar bodies, the section 106 review process was reinstated, and it was determined that a nineteenth-century culvert was in the way of planned construction. Using Federal TE funds rehabilitation work was started, with a target date of construction being 2005.

​

Visitors are welcome to view a display of this structure as well as others in the Museum Display area on the second floor of the of the Carroll County Historical Society Museum during open hours.