Based on an old lead found during our research of the stone bridges of Cowley County, Kansas, we recently decided to do a bit of a tour of Liberty Township, in Elk County. Apparently, at one time, Liberty Township had undertaken a massive campaign of stone arch bridge building, and we found several examples left from this era. But of even more interest than this confirmation of an old newspaper record is the distinctive styling of the culverts, which very closely resemble those we found in the Oak Valley area in the same county.
The Stone Culverts
While we did not undertake an exhaustive search of all the roads in Liberty Township, we found enough stone culverts to get an idea of the work that was done. The first thing of interest is how almost all the stone culverts were found on a historically major road in the township. The second discovery of interest is how nearly identical they were to the Oak Valley stone culverts, even down to the distinct doubling of the width done at some point. Furthermore, the mortar on both sections of most of these stone bridges remains in good condition, making it a little difficult to guess which part is older. Below is a gallery showing the stone culverts we found.
Most of the stone culverts are similar in style, but of considerable interest is the fact that there is very little difference between the original and widened portions of the culverts. A view through one of the culverts shows this fact.
As can be seen, it is very difficult to tell which part is older. In both the original and the widening the workmanship is very good. Of note, however, in the picture above is how there is a ledge under the arch on only one section of the culvert.
Comparing to the Oak Valley Stone Culverts
As can be seen in the picture above, the Oak Valley culverts are very similar in design to those we found in Liberty Township. Furthermore, much like those in Oak Valley, the width of most of the Liberty Township culverts was doubled with an adjoining stone arch. Is there a connection in the work done in the two townships? Could the county itself have been responsible for these structures?
A Piece of History
While newspaper evidence shows that Liberty Township was building stone arch culverts at an early date, it is worth pointing out that many of the stone bridges look relatively recent. This is evidenced primarily by the strong mortar used, and the type of workmanship, which involves numerous thin stones as opposed to the more traditional rectangular blocks found in much of the work done in the early 1900s. And yet at least one of the Liberty Township culverts looks much older than the others, again suggesting there are indeed several generations of stone bridges here, including many of more recent (c. 1920s and 1930s) build.
All the evidence suggests that there may be several generations of stone bridges in Liberty Township: the typical early-1900s-type structures, followed by a generation of later date, possibly from the 1920s, then a series of widenings possibly from the ’20s or even ’30s.
All in all, the Liberty Township culverts open up an interesting history question that as yet remains unsolved: Is it possible that in places like Elk County stone bridges were being built at more recent dates than is typically the case around the state? While most counties and townships quit building stone bridges around the mid 1910s, to some degree in the eastern part of Cowley County and extensively in the eastern part of Elk County there is evidence that the stone bridge era continued much longer than was typical for most of the state. And yet, these structures are most certainly not WPA projects. There seems to be an interesting story of road history tucked away here.
Stone Arch Bridges 