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The old adage says that all things old will be new again.
And John Camden and his crew at Camden Construction, in Pierceton, are in the midst of making that a reality for two historic 19th century iron bridges.
Camden retrieved an abandoned bowstring arch bridge and a bedstead wrought iron bridge from rural Montgomery County, dismantled them and transported them to his Pierceton facility. When the restoration is completed they will be moved to Indianapolis and erected over the Historic Canal Walk project of the Indianapolis Parks Department.
According to James Cooper, a retired professor of history at DePauw University in Greencastle, the bridges are two of the remaining 100 iron bridges in the state, and represent a time in Indiana's history when industrial craftsmanship was viewed as "art."
"The Indianapolis Museum of Art considers these bridges works of art - iron sculpture, if you will. It may be 19th century industrial art, but it is art," he said. "There's a lot of iron craftsmanship in these bridges. This bridge - the 1873 bowstring - is older than most of the 90 covered bridges in Indiana."
Building bridges has been a large part of Camden's life as well - the reason he was selected for the restoration project.
"We've been building bridges since 1948. Between the culverts and bridges we've built in the county, you can't go home without crossing one that we've done," Camden said.
Cooper said the restoration of the two bridges has been commissioned by the Indianapolis Parks Department and used as a part of the hiking-biking trail system currently under development.
"The bowstring bridge will be re-erected over the Indianapolis Central Canal behind the Indianapolis Museum of Art near West 38th Street, and be used for access to the museum's sculpture garden," he said. "The bed-stead bridge will be going over the canal at North Illinois Street."
Ray Irvin, director of Indy Parks, said the restoration of the bridges represents his department's commitment to preserving Indiana's cultural history, as well as providing quality recreational facilities.
"This project is significant in a couple of ways. These old bridges are of great historical significance, but we're losing them at an alarming rate," Irvin said. "I started working with Professor Cooper a few years ago in maintaining the historical flavor of the old canal pathway. Through that partnership, we've been able to save some very beautiful, historic bridges.
"Another significant thing is we're working on developing a national standard for saving old bridges like these," he added. "These are incredible cultural and educational resources. Purdue University has plans to use them as 'living' examples of the engineering principles used in bridge construction."
Cooper said the bowstring arch bridge was built in Cleveland, Ohio, by the King Iron Bridge Co., using a patented bridge design. Once it was completed, it was dismantled and shipped by railroad to Crawfordsville, where it was reassembled. It was later moved again to the rural Montgomery County location where it was recovered by Camden.
He said the wrought iron bridge was built in 1879 by the Wrought-Iron Bridge Co. in Canton, Ohio.
