Butler County, Kansas, has numerous stone arch bridges and culverts, there having been hundreds of them in use by the early 1900s. While many of these structures have been long-since replaced (most of them were culverts, and many of these were narrow and rather poorly built) there are still a sizable number of these old structures on the public roads. However, the story doesn’t end there. During the development of Butler County’s roads, streams were diverted to make bridging them easier. And when that happened, the old stone bridges were not always demolished. As it turns out, Butler County has a notable heritage of stone bridges, still extant, but high-and-dry. Some still even carry the roads, though they may be almost entirely filled-in. The search for these structures is a rather interesting and difficult undertaking, the biggest difficulty being locating them in the first place.
Buried Bridges
Several notable bridges have turned up in Butler County in recent years. Most notable is the historic Peter Johnson’s Bridge, a well-documented 1895 bridge by Walter Sharp and located in the embankment for a blacktop. Another noteworthy example is the Walz Ford Bridge, another Walter Sharp creation that still carries the road but is mostly filled-in. We also found the old Kentucky Creek Bridge near Rosalia (pictured above), which was in fact a township structure, just a large one. We also came across an old stone culvert south of Leon, also mostly filled in.
Obscured Stone Bridges
Then there is the category of stone culverts thoroughly obscured by extensive widening. Two known examples can be found near Augusta. Since Augusta township built many of these culverts, one must wonder if there might be more of these structures in the area that look like concrete bridges from the road.
The Search Continues…
Documenting these obscure stone bridges can be challenging, but quite rewarding. In a location known to have once had a stone bridge, where some form of ruins cannot be found, the possibility opens up that the old might still be around, hidden somewhere. It seems probable that there are stone bridges completely buried out of sight under some of Butler County’s blacktops, while others may be waiting to be found, filled-in as streams were re-routed or meandered. As a single noteworthy example, there was a small 12′ stone bridge built outside of Douglass south of town by tombstone cutter and mason Owen Jones. No trace of the bridge and barely any trace of whatever it may have spanned remains. Is the bridge gone? Or just buried? Or is it visible, but hasn’t been found yet?
