Reuben L. Partridge

Reuben L. Partridge (1823-1900) designed and constructed hundreds of bridges in Central Ohio, many of them in Union County, and received a United States Patent for the Partridge Truss, a distinctive covered bridge engineering feature. Four of his original covered bridges built in Union County in the 1870s and 1880s still remain: Bigelow (1873), Culbertson (1872), Pottersburg (1872), and Spain Creek (1883). He also served as vice president of the Columbus Bridge Company and was responsible for constructing the Bergstresser/Dietz Covered Bridge in southeast Franklin County in 1887. At age 77, while overseeing the removal of an old wooden bridge across Blues Creek in Taylor Township, he stepped back to avoid a loose girder, fell between the joists, and died from his injuries on July 17, 1900.

Marysville, Ohio · United States