05/12/2026
Joseph Albert Britton - One of Parke County’s Master Bridge Builders
Compiled by Randy Wright, Parke County Historian
According to Focus on Local History by the Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana’s covered bridge era began in the early 1830s when the National Road first crossed the state. The first Hoosier covered bridge was completed in 1835 in Henry County. It is estimated that between 400 and 500 covered bridges may have existed in Indiana. The American Society of Civil Engineers suggests that perhaps 10,000 covered bridges were built in the United States between 1805 and 1885.
Because the bridges were constructed with timber, they were covered to protect them from the elements. They were often the largest covered area in a community and were sometimes used for revival meetings, weddings, and political rallies. Two major Indiana covered bridge builders, J. J. Daniels and Joseph A. Britton, lived in the Rockville area, and a third, A. M. Kennedy working with his sons and grandsons, lived in Rushville. This explains the concentration of covered bridges in Parke and Rush counties.
Between 1847 and 1920, there 58 known covered bridges built in Parke County. Of the 35 surviving bridges (in 1972) Joseph Britton and sons constructed fourteen of them, while J. J. Daniels built ten. Today, there are 31 covered bridges remaining in the “Covered Bridge Capital of the World”.
Joseph Albert (J. A.) Britton was born east of Rockville on June 9, 1838, a son of Charlton and Julia Pettypool-Britton. He learned carpentry from his widely known and skillful father.
Joseph’s obituary notes that he often said that his entire attendance at the schools (irregularly available to children of his generation) did not comprise a course of six months within an intermittent period of three years. Yet he was well-informed in the classical literature of the ages. His mind was a store house of useful knowledge that he could use in public addresses, printed essays and polemic discussion. Britton was always against the wrong that lacked resistance.
Joseph enlisted August 1, 1862 as a Corporal in Company C, Indiana 78th Infantry. The 78th was organized at Indianapolis, for 60 days State service and mustered in August 5, 1862. They were assigned guard duty at Evansville, and engaged in operations against guerrillas in Kentucky, until the unit was mustered out October 3, 1862 at Evansville. The company had been hastily organized to repel the “invasion” of Kentucky. Britton and comrades hurried to the front without regimental formation and, on September 1, just a few days after leaving Rockville, he was in battle at Uniontown, Kentucky. The fight began when Confederates, advancing from Morgantown, attacked and overran a picket line. The Federals, outnumbered, retreated into town and tried to make a stand in a brick house. Their opposition fired a shot from their artillery and Co. C was forced to surrender. Twenty-seven Union men were injured and two were killed – including Captain Tilghman Howard. The soldiers were paroled the next day and sent by a passing steamer to Evansville.
On September 25, 1862, Rev. W.P. Cu***ng united Miss Mary Elizabeth Jones, a Catlin native, and Mr. Britton in marriage in Parke County. They had four sons Eugene, Charlton, Scott, and Frank; two daughters, Maude and Elizabeth.
After the war Britton read law and was admitted to the bar in Rockville in 1870. He later moved to Kansas, but returned home within a few months. Joseph eventually took up carpentry and for a few years worked as a day laborer on covered bridge construction.
On June 22, 1882, a Notice to Bridge Contractors appeared in the local papers. It called for sealed proposals for the construction of a one span, 120 feet long bridge and 16 feet of roadway in the clear across Sugar Creek at the crossing known as the Narrows of Sugar Creek. The bids were due before noon on August 24, 1882, and construction was to be completed on or before the first day of January, 1883. Britton was awarded the contract, and in the January 20, 1883 edition of the Parke County Signal, it was reported that “the bridge is finished, and stands to bear testimony in favor of its builder, Jos Britton.” There are two different dates on the portals, because the construction began in 1882, and ended in 1883. This was the first bridge in a career that would span decades. McCulman Construction Co. began work on a bypass bridge in 1958, and the Narrows Covered Bridge was retired upon its opening.
Joseph’s wife, Mrs. Mary E. Britton, died March 15, 1884 in Rockville, and was buried in the Rockville Cemetery.
Four years after his first wife’s death, J. A. Britton married Bertha Elizabeth Hirsbrunner on September 13, 1888. Four sons were born to them, Lawrence, Edgar, Ralph, and Walter.
In 1920, Joseph, assisted by his son Eugene Britton, built his last covered bridge, The Nevins Bridge at Gilkerson’s Ford near Gilkerson’s Mill over Little Raccoon Creek near Catlin. The bridge is one hundred fifty-five feet long and it rests on concrete abutments.
The 1972 National Register of Historic Places application for the Parke County Covered Bridge Historic District indicated that the Brittons built about forty bridges in Parke, Vermillion and Putnam Counties. Of the twenty-three known bridges, seventeen were still standing.
Mr. Britton died from hypostatic pneumonia on January 18, 1929 in Rockville. Funeral services were held at the Methodist Church. A quartet composed of Mrs. J. R. Bloomer, Mrs. Clayton Harrison, John Linebarger and Parke Warden, sang “Abide with Me” and “Safe in the Arms of Jesus”. William Ard and Earl. M. Dowd representing the Odd Fellows Lodge gave their ritualistic services at the church. The firing squad of the American Legion fired the ritual salute and taps sounded at the grave in the Rockville Cemetery.
Mrs. Bertha E. Britton, Joseph’s second wife, passed away on April 12, 1952 and was buried in the Rockville Cemetery.
Terry D. Britton, a proud great-great grandson of J. A. Britton, carries on the family tradition of building in the county today with the recently constructed Cross at a Walk Britton Winery. Terry commented “When I thought about doing the winery, I wanted to come back to Parke County. J. A. Britton built many of the covered bridges here, so I wanted to model my business around him. That’s where the name of winery came from. The bridges says ‘cross this bridge at a walk’, so I just used part of that and incorporated it into my my business to promote J. A. back into my business for Parke County. We also like to have local people involved, like Rita Jacks who did the labeling and art by John Bennett a talented blacksmith.”
photo shared by Terry D. Britton
