*Destroyed by flooding Sept. 1-2, 2021 in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ida.

The 1880 Rudolph and Arthur Covered Bridge was a historic wooden covered bridge located in Elk Township and New London Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Rudolph and Arthur Bridge was an 80-foot-long and 15 feet wide,  Burr truss bridge, constructed in 1880. It had vertical planking and eave-level window openings and crossed the Big Elk Creek.

This bridge was built at the site of the paper firm owned by Rudolph and Arthur families.  The contractor for the structure was Menander Wood who built it for the sum of $1,440. Richard T. Meredith was the mason and laid the stone and mortar abutments and wing walls for $890. Before the hurricane, this bridge was in good condition open to vehicle traffic, and owned and maintained by the County.

Between 1850 and 1909 a large dam above the bridge site supplied power for a paper mill. Three generations of the Rudolph family were active in the paper mill operations. When the bridge was built in 1880, Charles Arthur was a member of the paper firm that operated under the name of Rudolph and Arthur.

Of the 1,500 covered bridges that once stood in the state of Pennsylvania, as of 2019, approximately 200 remain.

Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on December 10, 1980, but now removed.

Located at:  N39 44.753    W75 52.937    -    WGCB #38-15-01

Photographed in May of 2015.