{"nrhp_refnum":"79003192","name":"Shoemaker Covered Bridge","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"SR 19053","address_restricted":false,"city":"Iola","county":"Columbia County","state":"PA","lat":41.15139886800006,"lon":-76.53603361999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Shoemaker Covered Bridge is a 49-foot covered bridge with a 10.9-foot clearance, located in Iola, Columbia County, Pennsylvania. It is a Queen Post truss design with board-and-batten side walls and stone and mortar abutments.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the bridge is significant for its engineering, as one of the Queen Post covered bridges that remain in Columbia County, where covered bridges have not been built in the last half century. It also relates to transportation, since bridges were needed to link towns, farms, and saw and grist mills during growth in the area.","narrative":"Iola, in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, is home to the Shoemaker Covered Bridge, a 49-foot structure with a clearance of 10.9 feet. It uses a Queen Post design, with two diagonal beams on either side of a central iron tension rod, and one diagonal beam has been reinforced with a steel girder. Its board-and-batten side walls are unequal in length because the road curves sharply at the foot of a mountain, and the longer wall gives better sight lines. The stone and mortar abutments have been extensively repaired with concrete, and no steel beams have been added to the undergirding. The builder was T. S. Christian. The bridge is significant for engineering, as its Queen Post design belongs to a group of covered bridges in Columbia County that have not been matched by new construction in the last half century. It also reflects transportation needs in a growing area, where bridges connected towns with farms and mills.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"T. S. Christian (builder)","architectural_style":"Queen Post truss","criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.434682-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79003192.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003192/b30756cc02-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003192/b30756cc02-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ruhrfisch","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shoemaker_Covered_Bridge_2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Ruhrfisch</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shoemaker_Covered_Bridge_2.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992830","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoemaker_Covered_Bridge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7500031"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/columbia-county/shoemaker-covered-bridge-79003192/"}