Portland Mills Covered Bridge
| Portland Mills Covered Bridge | |
| National Register of Historic Places | |
 Portland Mills Covered Bridge
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| Official name: Portland Mills Covered Bridge | |
| Named for: Portland Mills | |
| Country |  United States |
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| State |  Indiana |
| County | Parke |
| Township | Greene |
| Road | C.R. E650N |
| Crosses | Little Raccoon Creek |
| Coordinates | 39°51′38.67″N 87°5′19.66″W / 39.8607417°N 87.0887944°WCoordinates: 39°51′38.67″N 87°5′19.66″W / 39.8607417°N 87.0887944°W |
| Length | 146 ft (45 m) 130ft +8ft overhangs on each end |
| Width | 16 ft (5 m) |
| Clearance | 13 ft (4 m) |
| Builder | Wolf, Henry |
| Design | Double Burr Arch truss single-span bridge |
| Material | Wood |
| Built | 1856 |
| - Moved | 1960-61 to present site from Greene Township |
| Owned and Maintained by | Parke County |
| NBI Number | 6100112 |
| WGCB Number | #14-61-21 |
| Added to NRHP | Dec 22, 1978 |
| NRHP Ref# | 78000408 |
| MPS | Parke County Covered Bridges TR |
  Location of the Portland Mills Bridge in Indiana
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 Location of Indiana in the United States
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The Portland Mills Covered Bridge is the second oldest covered bridge in Parke County, Indiana, being built the same year as the Crooks Covered Bridge. It is a single span Burr Arch Truss covered bridge that was built by Henry Wolf in 1856.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The village of Portland Mills was settled in 1821 by Samuel Steele on the Parke County-Putnam County county line. Working to clear the land for farming he later built a mill in 1825 on Big Raccoon Creek. The grain mill had a water turbine, as opposed to a water wheel, and a sawmill. The mill would go through several owners, William Butcher, Jesse Thompson, and Wesley Holman. Holman would build a new three story mill on a solid sandstone foundation and obtained modern machinery. This mill would go through several owners also. The list includes, Hirem Hocker, John Blake, Jacob Culver, James Williams, and a Mr. Williams.
While the Parke County Covered Bridge website claims the bridge started out in Union Township after looking at plat maps from 1874 it would appear that the bridge may have been in the southeast corner of Greene Township. While a clear location is lost because of the flooding of Big Raccoon Creek in 1961, it looks as if the bridge would have been very close to 39°46′44.22″N 87°0′54.43″W / 39.7789500°N 87.0151194°W.
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Wikipedia