The Germantown Covered Bridge, in Germantown, Montgomery County, Ohio, was built in 1870. It is an inverted bowstring bridge that carries Center Street over Little Twin Creek. Originally, it was located on the Dayton Pike. It was moved in 1911 to its present location and was restored in 1963. Currently, this 100-foot bridge is only accessible for pedestrian traffic.

Germantown's covered bridge uses an inverted bowstring truss, which is believed to be the only one of its kind in the United States and representative of the bridges built during the transition period between timber and iron bridges.

It is one of the earlier bridges that David H. Morrison designed and built. Morrison would become one of the most important bridge engineers in Ohio in the 1800s. Though he designed other bridges in this style, the Germantown Bridge is the only surviving example.

The past has not always been easy for the bridge. The structure was originally built over Little Twin Creek on Dayton Pike, but in 1911, it was moved to its present location on East Center Street to help preserve it. As it turns out, this move did not ensure the bridge’s continued safety. In 1981, a drunk driver crashed into the bridge, causing it to collapse into the creek. The people of Germantown recovered and restored the bridge, and since then, it has been designated as a pedestrian-only bridge to protect it.

Germantown Bridge was documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in 1992.

Posted to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Located at:  N39 37.573    W84 21.898        -        WGCB #35-57-01

Photographed in May of 2022

Photos by Millard Farmer