The Demise of the Conkey Town Covered Bridge
In 1956, the Conkey Town covered bridge was the only surviving covered bridge in Vermilion County out of the 18 that once existed there. The mill was long gone, but the beautiful split in the limestone bluff remained and the bridge area became a popular spot for swimming, picnicking, and stargazing. Over the years, the old bridge boards became a landscape for local couples and friends to carve their names into the wood. It was also a popular spot for artists. The fall season was most popular for local painters who could sometimes be found with their easels set up in and around the bridge painting the local scenery.
On the night of Monday April 23, 1956 Vermilion County lost its final covered bridge to unknown arsonists. The fire was reported around midnight by motorist Don Stallings and nearby residents Margaret Minser and her newlywed son Marion Minser and wife Betty. Stallings was returning home from Homer and he saw the glow of fire from the road. By the time he arrived at the bridge, it was completely on fire. The Minser’s were awoken in their home from the glow of the fire and notified the Oakwood Township Highway Commissioner Glenn Illk. According to Illk, “the blaze was set (intentionally). Both ends of the bridge were burning when I arrived.”
The fire completely destroyed the bridge. Only the stone abutments remained following the fire. Barricades were erected by Illk at both ends of the bridge to stop traffic and they hoped to replace the bridge, but this plan never came to fruition. Margaret Minser said folks came to see the bridge site for weeks after it burned. According to Minser, “at times, cars would be lined up for some distance on our road. I guess they just wanted to see for themselves what happened.”
At least some of the remainder of the bridge was left in the river and slowly floated down the stream over time. A charred crossbeam with names scrawled across its surface was discovered years later by Ralph Goodriche, who found it lodged in the Salt Fork just east of the Cheney Ford Bridge in central Vermilion County. The steel cable fence that once led from the small stone bridge to the covered bridge remains twisted and rusted along the path that once led over the Salt Fork. The remnants of this fence are joined by the stone abutments on each side of the river as the only remaining evidence of the bridge. The site of the former mill now has a small footbridge that reaches across the split in the limestone bluff. Only the 1878 Minser farmhouse remains today and it is perhaps the final existing vestige of connection to Conkey Town and the Conkey Town covered bridge.