Grange City Covered Bridge

The Hillsboro Covered Bridge, known locally as the "Hillsboro-Grange City Covered Bridge", spans Fox Creek in Fleming County adjacent to Kentucky Route 111, 13.6 miles southeast of Flemingsburg, Kentucky. Probably built in the late 1860s, it was last used in 1968 when it was replaced fifty yards upstream by a concrete bridge. The bridge's timbers are of yellow pine with double shouldered braces. A single 94-foot (29 m) span, it was probably built by the same contractor who constructed Ringos Mill Covered Bridge several miles up Fox Creek. Abutments are of red stone and corrugated sheet metal covers the roof and sides. The bridge was originally double-sided with yellow poplar. The bridge is a good example of Theodore Burr's 1814 patented truss design that employs multiple kingposts. Patent bridges were the "bread and butter" of early engineers who typically received one dollar per linear foot of bridge construction for use of the patented design.