Culbertson Covered Bridge was built in 1872-1873 by Reuben L. Partridge at a cost of $1,375 using his Partridge Block truss design. It was originally constructed across Treacle's Creek on State Route 4 south of Milford Center. In 1921 the bridge was replaced, but the wooden superstructure was saved and reused for a new bridge on Winget Road, where it was put into place in 1922 on abutments built by Reed & Snyder. In 1988 Union County employees rehabilitated the bridge by installing wood girders inside the wood trusses and suspending the floor from the girders. The Partridge trusses now carry only the weight of the original bridge, and the steel piers under the bridge are not original. Reuben L. Partridge was born on September 10, 1823, in Wilmington, New York, and came to Marysville, Ohio, in 1836, where he learned wagon and carriage making and later operated a carpentry and furniture business. By 1855 he had begun building bridges, and in 1872 he patented his own wood truss design, which was used in many of his covered bridges. Over the next 45 years he constructed hundreds of bridges throughout Ohio. In 1886 he joined the Columbus Bridge Company, which built iron and wood bridges for highways and railroads. He died on July 17, 1900, after being injured while removing an old wooden bridge, and he is buried at Oakdale Cemetery in Marysville, Ohio.
