Bell Rd. / Huron River

County: Washtenaw

City/Township: Dexter Twp.

Location: Bell Rd. / Huron River

Year Built: 1891

About this Bridge:
The Bell Road Bridge is one of only about ten nineteenth-century metal through truss highway bridges in Michigan. Spanning the Huron River, the bridge extends over 103 feet in length and has a width of thirteen feet. Constructed in 1891, the six-panel structure rests on fieldstone abutments. The Bell Road Bridge, now closed to vehicular traffic, is in a rural, largely wooded setting. It stands at the site of a nineteenth-century milling settlement known as Dover, of which little now survives.

The Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio, was the most prolific builder of metal truss bridges in Michigan in the nineteenth century and this is the third oldest known surviving example of their work.