The backroads of Hocking County saw trucks loaded with iron columns and other bridge pieces in the summer of 2006. The disassembled Zoarville Station Bridge (ZSB) was on its way to Logan, Ohio, for reconstruction.

“Historical Integrity” is the mantra at 14 Gallagher Street, better known as the Columbus Washboard Company. The Makers of Hand Forged Iron work in the back of the warehouse in Logan, but not on washboards. They are restoring an 1868 iron bridge that was originally erected over 100 miles northeast of Logan, near Dover, Ohio.

Doug Lockhart of Makers is excited to talk about the project and show the restoration process. The team of six men has been installing 245 rivets per column, or 3000 rivets—BY HAND. Once the restoration work is completed in Logan, the columns will again be loaded on trucks for the trip back to Dover, where the bridge will be re-erected by Christmas. To stay on schedule, this requires replacing one rivet within two minutes.

Why so much care and consideration for one bridge?

The bridge is one of a kind with international significance. Albert Fink, a Civil Engineer from Darmstadt, Germany, found 100 ft of the bridge in nearby woods and created a new design using the existing structure. In 1905, it was placed over One Leg Creek (now Conotton Creek). It is the only known Fink Through-Truss bridge in the U.S. and the only bridge designed with hollow columns, according to Lockhart. (For more history on Fink and the bridge, visit http://www.tuscazoar.org/ZSB.htm.)

If you find yourself in Logan in the next few weeks, stop in on Gallagher Street for the final stages of reconstruction on the ZSB before it makes its way back to Dover. And don’t forgot tour the Washboard Factory while you’re there!

Photo: Zoarville Station Bridge, used with permission