The bridge is easily accessed from either Ohio Route 212 or 800 along a broad graveled trail to where it spans the Conotton Creek,
From the Nattional Park Service:
The Zoarville Bridge, built in 1868, is the only remaining Fink through truss bridge that exists in the United States. Albert Fink, an engineer who worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, invented the Fink truss and patented his design in 1851. The Fink through truss design created a stronger all metal bridge, allowing more locomotive traffic than earlier wooden bridges.
The Zoarville Bridge was a modification of the Fink through truss design to reduce the number of posts and ties used. The bridge was constructed as part of the three-span Factory Street Bridge over the Tuscarawas River in the city of Canal Dover. Smith, Latrobe and Company of Baltimore, Maryland specialized in Fink truss bridge construction, and erected the bridge—now the sole surviving bridge erected by this company The primary men of Smith, Latrobe and Company at this time were leaders in American civil engineering. The company was founded in 1866 with Charles Shaler Smith as president and chief engineer, consulting engineer Benjamin Henry Latrobe Jr., vice-president Charles Hazlehurst Latrobe and chief superintendent Frederick Henry Smith.
The Zoarville Bridge is also distinguished by its round iron columns similar to those manufactured by the Phoenix Iron Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania and unusual ornamentation which is essential to the structure. The bridge is more than 108 feet long by 17 feet wide and 20 feet high. One span of the original three-span bridge was moved in 1905 to its present location over Conotton Creek in Zoarville, approximately eight miles northeast of Dover. It replaced a wooden covered bridge on the same site and was in turn abandoned in the 1940s after the state highway was relocated. Under another restoration project the Zoarville Bridge will be incorporated into a bike trail connected by the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail.
There is extensive documentation of the engineering aspect of this bridge along with many historic photographs from the Historic American Buildings Survey. Here is a short excerpt:
The Zoarville Station Bridge is a modified Fink through truss. It originally was one of three spans of a bridge over the Tuscarawas River and the Ohio-Eirie Canal at the town of Canal Dover, now known as Dover. Built in 1868, the bridge was known as the "Dover River Bridge," the "River Bridge at Canal Dover," or the "Factory Street Bridge," and was probably the most important bridge in Tusacarawas County. It was built by the eminent engineering firm of Smith, Latrobe and Company of Baltimore, Maryland. Edward J. Lander of Canton, Ohio, used one of the three spans to replace an existing wood bridge at Zoarville Station in 1905.
Some of its recent history and restoration is related by
Camp Tuscazoar, a nearby Boy Scout Camp:
Formerly owned by local resident Mr. Charles Lebold, who paid $50 for it in 1969, the bridge will now be saved from gradual deterioration. After acquiring the property under the bridge, the CTF purchased the bridge from Mr. Lebold for the grand sum of one dollar...a very generous deal.
With its restoration now complete, the bridge carries the Zoar Valley Trail, the intrastate Ohio-to-Erie Trail and Buckeye Trail, and the interstate North Country Scenic Trail across Conotton Creek. The bridge also gives the youth using the camp access to the Ohio-Erie Canal Corridor and the towpath trail.
In 1985 the Ohio Historical Society recognized the significance of the Zoarville Station Bridge with a cover photo and story in its TIMELINE publication (Volume 2/ Number 1.)
The Zoarville Station Bridge Project was the Award
for Engineering Excellence in 2008, by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).
The Zoarville Bridge is recognized by Ohio State Historic Marker 10-79
Zoarville Station/Fink Through Truss Bridge
The Zoarville Station Bridge is a rare survivor of the earliest period of iron bridge construction in the United States, an era when unprecedented railroad expansion gave American bridge builders an international reputation for innovation. German immigrant Albert Fink first developed this truss design for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the early 1850s. Charles Shaler Smith, a prominent civil engineer and Fink's former assistant, designed the bridge with patented features that improved on Fink's original design. His firm, Smith, Latrobe & Company of Baltimore, Maryland, built this example in 1868 as a highway bridge over the Tuscarawas River in Dover. It was moved to this site in 1905 and abandoned in 1940. The Lebold family donated the bridge to the Camp Tuscazoar Foundation in 1997 for preservation and restoration. Of the hundreds of Fink Truss bridges built in the mid-1800s, the Zoarville Station Bridge is the last of its kind known to exist.
OHIO BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
THE LONGABERGER COMPANY
CAMP TUSCAZOAR FOUNDATION
THE OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
2000
The Zoarville Bridge was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1997.