Gresham Creek Bridge construction on west pier in New Harmony, Ind., 1927. Source: Don Blair Collection (MSS 247-4038)

*Post written by James Wethington, library assistant of the University Archives and Special Collections.

In our latest edition of #ThrowbackThursday, we discuss the reconstruction of the Gresham Creek Bridge in New Harmony, Indiana was underway on this day in 1927.

In New Harmony’s history, Gresham’s creek served as an important manufacturing center for the city. Before 1927, there is evidence there was a bridge there in 1883 because of correspondence from Edward Travers Cox, who was visiting New Harmony, Indiana. Cox (1939) states, “A saw mill was built by the Harmonists just above the upper bridge on Gresham’s creek, and another on Rush creek…” Along on Gresham’s creek, two mills were constructed and they were used for “…manufacturing oil from flax, hemp, rape and poppy seeds” (Cox, 1939).

Gresham Creek bridge construction with men working on west pier in New Harmony, Ind., 1927. Source: Don Blair Collection (MSS 247-4045)

These photographs were taken by and a part of the Don Blair’s collection. More images from the Don Blair collection is available on digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital. On the homepage, click on “Don Blair collection”, and there are over 2,000 photographs available for viewing.

References

Cox, E. T. (1939). A visit to New Harmony in 1883: Letter of Edward Travers Cox. Indiana Magazine of History, 35 (2), 182-187. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/7139/7991