Streep and Eastwood at Rossman Bridge in Madison County. Warner Brothers photo

Jefferson County’s Sandy Creek Covered Bridge near Hillsboro twins the Rossman Bridge in Madison County, Iowa, as a setting for encounters between a farm wife and a freelance photographer who become lovers in a powerful movie romance starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood.

The best-selling novel by Robert James Waller captured readers’ hearts around the world making Jefferson County’s Sandy Creek Bridge a getaway place for local folks to meet for picnics, photography sessions, slow walks, long talks, rendezvous, and stolen kisses.

Sandy Creek Bridge was a site accommodating all of those activities more than a century before the novel appeared in 1992, the movie  in 1995, and ever since that local bridge was built in 1872. And it still is.

It was built to allow passage from the Jefferson County seat of Hillsboro to villages that would be incorporated as the City of Arnold 100 years later, and also to St. Louis.

Sandy Creek Covered Bridge. Missouri State Parks photo

The Missouri State Parks Department says, “Sandy Creek Bridge boasts the picture-perfect appearance of an old red barn…Three of the four remaining covered bridges in Missouri (which once numbered about 30) were built using the Howe-truss design, including Sandy Creek, Burfordville and Locust Creek covered bridges…It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.”

For Arnold residents, it’s fun to picnic at Sandy Creek or getaway weekends to visit Missouri’s historic covered bridges in other counties. Covered timber truss bridges can last up to a century before much work is required while uncovered wooden bridges usually last maybe twenty years before needing repair, replacement or demolition. Covered bridges are romantic indeed but rare – only about 1,400 exist worldwide.

Most bridges in Jefferson County are about more than enjoying afternoon strolls and moonlit walks. They are about railroad companies that built them starting in the 1850s; Civil War soldiers that destroyed them; and vehicles that today drive over local bridges day and night. For example, in 1883, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (PPG) opened a glass manufacturing plant in Crystal City, employing hundreds of people, and built a riveted metal bridge across a creek to a sand mine. The PPG property remains empty since closing in 1992 yet that restricted PPG bridge still stands. Right now, there are approximately 167 bridges in Jefferson County. Current bridge building and repair project information is shown at https://www.jeffcomo.org/160/Projects.

Civil War

During the Civil War, a three-tiered suspension bridge was built by U.S. Army engineers over the Meramec River near the site of today’s Arnold City Park. One of the first three-tiered suspension bridges ever constructed, its purpose was to allow Union troops from Jefferson Barracks to reach Confederate encampments in Jefferson County and throughout Missouri. The bridge also was crossed by notorious “Bushwhackers” and “Jayhawkers” galloping through Jefferson County to conduct brutal guerilla warfare.

Confederate Brigadier General Jeff Thompson was called the Swamp Fox during Civil War in Missouri. Public Domain photo

Just before that war, railroad companies had started building bridges for transporting iron ore, lumber, livestock, people and troops. One Confederate Army objective in Missouri was to burn every railroad bridge from St. Louis to Pilot Knob in Iron County.

Confederate General M. Jeff Thompson, called “The Swamp Fox,” led a cavalry attack to the Iron Mountain Railroad Bridge over the Big River in Jefferson County near De Soto October 15, 1861, capturing 50  Union soldiers, burning the bridge, then escaping with his troopers, who were called “Swamp Rats.” That event was the only real battle in Jefferson County during the Civil War, though many skirmishes occurred near local hamlets.

Today, six historic iron and steel bridges in Jefferson County still stand. Photos of those six historic bridges are shown on the website www.HistoricBridges.org managed by webmaster Nathan Holth, who lives in Port Huron, Michigan. Historic Jefferson County bridges that Mr. Holth’s site features are:

• Byrnesville Bridge
• Crystal City Underground Bridge (PPG)
• MO-21 Meramec River Bridge
• Morse Mill Road Bridge
• Windsor Harbor Bridge
• Windsor Harbor Railroad Bridge.

The MO-21 Meramec River Bridge, also known as the Tesson Ferry Road Bridge, was built in 1940 and renovated in 2009. HistoricBridges.org reports: “This is a bridge of unusual design and was reportedly the first of its kind in the United States.

“The unusual design of the Meramec River Bridge was the result of a desire for a particularly beautiful bridge at this location which was traditionally part of a route to recreational areas for St. Louis area residents. Designed by the Missouri State Highway Department…The bridge today retains good historic integrity. It remains today as a striking, aesthetically pleasing bridge and, as the first of its kind in the country, enjoys high levels of historical significance.”

In an interview, Nathan Holth explains why he is so enthusiastic about bridges and how he chooses them for to taking photos that will appear on his website:

“I grew up in Port Huron, Michigan which at the time had a variety of interesting bridges but began to lose that population to bridge replacement. In terms of photography, we prioritize bridges that are at risk for demolition or collapse, or otherwise not preserved, as well as bridges with high levels of historic significance.”

Windsor Harbor Bridge in Jefferson County. Photo by Nathan Holth and and Rick McOmbe Photo Copyright HistoricBridges.org.

Holth’s photo of the old Windsor Harbor Road Bridge near Kimmswick in Jefferson County shown in this article is a multi-beam fixed roadway bridge built in 1874 that is the oldest Pratt Truss bridge in Missouri. Its photo here was shot on August 28, 2021. HistoricBridges.org reports, “The oldest Pratt truss in the state, this is one of the most unique and ornate surviving examples of a rare Keystone column truss bridge.

“The bridge was originally built over the River Des Peres at Lemay Ferry in St. Louis, and was relocated to Kimmswick in 1930, and bypassed by a new bridge in 1985. Seeking to prevent demolition of this bridge and retain it for use by non-motorized traffic, the Kimmswick Historical Society took ownership of this bridge in 1985 when it was replaced. The bridge appears to have been left in place with no major changes since this time. The time for planning and seeking funding for a full restoration of this bridge is now. The bridge shows numerous indications of deterioration.”

Another website showcasing Jefferson County bridges is www.BridgeHunter.com managed by the Historic Bridge Foundation, a 501 C 3 nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas. Its pages show, for example, the so-called Hollywood Beach Bridge in Arnold, a three-span through-truss bridge over the Meramec River originally built in 1903 for the Frisco Railroad, now run by BNSF Railway. It also shows, among others, the Joachim Creek US 61/67 Bridge that was washed over and temporarily closed by flooding in 2011. Joachim Creek is known by local fishermen as a mecca for smallmouth and spotted bass.

Kitty Henderson, executive director of Historic Bridge Foundation, says on her website, “Saving a historic bridge is frequently a complicated and time-consuming process. . . .  Federal procedures are in place to help us save bridges, but the ways these federal rules and regulations are implemented seem to vary from state to state…  Many times federal money is available. Sometimes state and/or local funds can be found.  But regardless of the money source, replacement is almost always seen as the cheaper. . . Somehow we must elevate the importance of our historic bridges in the stories that identify the communities of our nation and say, ‘This bridge is part of who we are and it must be saved.’”

Sunset Park Stone Bridge. City of Festus photo

Indeed, bridges are among the most essential aspects of infrastructure in world history and in the modern world. They connect us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. They allow us to travel to new places with hope for the future. They connect us with new avenues to explore and new possibilities. Songs about bridges – or burning them – are performed in every musical genre by artists including Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Aretha Franklin, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, The Judds, Simon and Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles and many more.

We cross bridges when there is need within us to discover something new, to see a different place, find something we have lost or want to find again. We cross them to get somewhere fast, or to simply get out of town but never come back.

Depending on where you go and what you need, every time you cross a bridge your life will change a little, maybe a lot.

Missouri Osage warrior painted by George Catlin early 1800s Public domain image

Fifteen miles from Arnold, some folks believe the unincorporated House Springs area is haunted by ghosts of massacred pioneers, dead children, murderers, thieves and Native American Indians.

It just might be. Why?

House Springs history is fraught with tragedy, sadness, bankruptcy, violence, poverty, illness and disappointment – not to mention unnatural death. Originally named House Spring, House Springs is for certain very much different today than it was years ago. Yet people still wonder.

In 1673, French Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette and fur trader Louis Jolliet canoed thru the Meramec River’s confluence with the Mississippi River near Arnold. Marquette later drew a map naming both a Native American Indian tribe and the territory Missouri.

In 1682 French explorer La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France, calling it the Louisiana Territory. Pioneers were permitted to settle if they cleared land and built a dwelling. President Thomas Jefferson purchased the entire territory in 1803, ordering Lewis and Clark with 46 men on a keelboat to find the Pacific Ocean.

House Family Deaths

A pioneer named James Head settled in the House Springs area in 1795. He named a tributary  of the Big River “Head’s Creek.” Mr. Head, about whom little is known, sold his land to German immigrant Adam House, who was lured by its river, natural spring, fertile soil and abundant sugar maple trees.

House built a cabin near the spring that, regrettably, was a rest stop for Osage Native Americans traveling to St. Louis to trade animal furs. History is unclear about why Osage warriors brutally murdered Adam House and one of his sons, yet they did. Apparently, when he saw the Osage warriors House sent two of his three children to get help as his youngest son Jacob stayed with him. Here is an official report about the horrid fate of Adam House and young son, as translated from the original French dated  March 19, 1800:

“I, Pierre Treget, commandant at Carondelet, pursuant to orders from Don Carlos Dehault Delassus, commandant at St. Louis, repaired to the Renault Forks, with the few militiamen I could assemble, in pursuit of the Indians. On reaching the place, I found an old man dead, head cut off and laid at his side, scalp taken and body full of wounds from musket shots; and a few paces off, a boy eight or nine years old, head cut off and lying near him, face smeared with blood, with a small piece of maple sugar in his mouth, no wound on his body from either musket or knife; a dead cow, one horn carried off, dead calf, head cut off, beds in the house cut to pieces, utensils broken and strewed about the house. Ascertained that the murders had been committed by the Osages. Buried the bodies.”

When word spread that Osage warriors murdered House and his young son, settlers nearby named the area House Spring to honor them.  In 1826, when Jefferson Barracks was established about 30 miles from House Spring, the U.S. Army began to vanquish native Americans. The vanquishing intensified when former general Andrew Jackson was elected President in 1828. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 promoted by Jackson was enacted by congress and harshly enforced by the U.S. Army.

Town of Demaree

Cornelius Demaree house built 1837 shown soon before demolition in 2017. Historic Barnhart-Imperial Facebook page photo.

In 1837 Cornelius H. Demaree moved from Kentucky to buy House Spring land parcels. He became Jefferson County’s first postmaster and a merchant with his general store Demaree & Co. Mr. Demaree had high hopes for getting rich by creating a town but he bankrupted in 1857, forcing sale of his land on Jefferson County’s Courthouse steps. Early pioneer Patrick Byrne of Byrnes Mill handled Demaree’s estate.

Ginger Brickey, senior genealogy clerk at the Northwest Branch of Jefferson County Library whose local family dates to about 1800, notes that In 1860, English-born physician George A. Smith purchased the property from Demaree’s estate. That  year, Smith renamed the House Spring village Demaree, platting along the west side of what is now State Route MM.

Brickey asserts, “Dr. Smith really oversold the place. He boasted about building a gravel road all the way to St. Louis and making Demaree a new Jefferson County seat, yet none of that happened.” The gravel roadway Dr. Smith envisioned is now Missouri Route 30. According to Missouri Preservation, Cornelius Demaree’s house was built in House Spring near Main Street and State Route MM:

The Burgess House in House Springs built in 1883. Many years later the land hosted a Hardees Restaurantt. Jefferson County Library photo

“The building was originally a log structure completed circa 1837. Mr. Demaree lived on the several-acre plot with his family until his death in 1857. By 1860 the property was auctioned off in parcels by Dr. George Smith, who marketed the plots as ‘The Town of Demaree,’ claiming that there were already fifteen buildings in the town. According to probate records at the time, these buildings included the dwelling, a stable, a blacksmith shop, and several well houses. Eventually the Demaree family disappeared from the area and the town was re-named for the House family House Springs. Over the years the Demaree house was expanded from cabin to a two story center hall with a columned two-story gallery extending the entire length of the house’s principal façade. This house was important in the history and settlement of this area in Jefferson County.”

According to the Historical Barnhart/Imperial organization, the Adam House cabin stood 50 yards north of the spring. When a large home was built near this spring in 1883 by Edward Burgess and his wife Josephine Cromwell a headless skeleton was unearthed – presumably, the bones of decapitated Adam House or his son. The bones were boxed and re-buried in a location unknown.

The historic Burgess House built on Adam House’s land was sold to another family in 1942. The Burgess site is near the intersection of Highway 30 and Highway W that runs northwest to Eureka and Highway MM. After a losing battle by preservationists in House Springs, the old Burgess home, shed and barn were demolished.

Civil War Ghosts

Civil War Bushwhackers supporting the Confederacy holding pistols. Wikipedia Commons photo

It’s hard to know how many Bushwhackers and Jayhawkers may have died fighting near House Springs during the Civil War. Bushwhackers and Jayhawkers rampaged across Jefferson County killing each other during that tragic conflict. Civil War guerillas were generally not enlisted in military forces on either side but sympathized with one cause or another. Many deadly skirmishes occurred between those guerilla fighters. Some fatalities are presumed buried in graves or unmarked caves. The graveyard nearest to House Springs at St. Martins United Church of Christ in High Ridge didn’t open until 1869, four years after the war ended.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that after the Civil War  “Main Street in House Springs became lined with stores, a tavern, a grocery store… The old building sits in a line with some of the oldest buildings in Jefferson County.” A two-story frame building on Main Street became the mercantile store of J.E.C. Wilson. The building was a tavern called Votaw’s Saloon…that supposedly dates pre-Civil War and its bricks were allegedly made by slaves in the area. There was also a blacksmith shop and a grocery store. Valentine Leight General Store, also known as V. Leight New Store, Leight Mercantile Co., and Garden of Eva, also were historic general stores in House Springs. The commercial structures were built in three stages between 1894 and 1910 with Late Victorian style details.

In 2012 the Red Brick Saloon hosted the Red Brick Sporting Goods Store . Jefferson County Library photo

A huge fire on October 14, 1940, totally destroyed the Charles Boemler Store in House Springs burning down the store, U.S. post office and Brimmer’s Funeral Parlor, likely containing caskets of dead people. Yet news of the fire and charred caskets was eclipsed by news that an ancient Native American burial ground with “cist” graves was found. The cist graves each had a single body placed in a hole covered with stone, according to the Jefferson County Leader. A longtime local resident whose two great grandmothers were Native Americans reported that a large camp of Indians lived along the Big River in the early 1800s. That area beside the Big River was rich in Native American artifacts. The name of the road that runs along Head’s Creek near the spring was changed to Indian Springs.

Ginger Brickey, senior genealogist at Jefferson County Library, concludes, “There were definitely many historic tragedies and killings in this area and if there are stories of hauntings and ghosts going back in history it would not be surprising.” Indeed, it would not be surprising.