The landscape near the Fallasburg Covered Bridge in western Michigan remains largely unchanged since a covered bridge first spanned the Flat River in the nineteenth century and a small rural village grew up on the riverbank there.
Today the bridge is part of the Fallasburg Historical District, which includes a small group of historical buildings on the site of a village established by the Fallass family.
John Wesley Fallass arrived in Michigan from New York in the late 1830s. The 25-year-old decided that this scenic spot along the Flat River was the perfect place to establish a new home and sent for his family to join him.
The family built a grist mill and a sawmill, which contained a chair factory many consider as one of the earliest manufacturers in what would become Kent County's thriving furniture industry. They also built a bridge across the river to facilitate travel along the main stagecoach route between Ionia and Grand Rapids.
By 1850, the village of Fallassburgh was thriving with a population of about 100. The town had the two mills, a stone mason, a tannery, a distillery, two blacksmiths, horse barns, harness shops, a hotel and tavern, a post office, two general stores, a school, nearly 20 homes and a cemetery.
In 1858, the D&M Railroad built its route through Lowell, about five miles away. Fallassbugh's residents and businesses soon followed the railroad to Lowell, and the village of Fallassburgh days were numbered.
The grist mill at Fallassburgh still did about $20,000 in business each year in 1860, and about 200 people called Fallassburgh in 1870.
Would building a new bridge across the Flat River reverse Fallassburgh's failing fortunes?
The first bridge the Fallass family built in 1839, and subsequent bridges built in 1844, 1849 and 1860, fell victim to elements like ice jams and flooding.
In 1871, Jared Brasee received the contract for constructing yet another span across the Flat River at this spot. Brasee built the 1860 version of the bridge for $249.50, but the $1,500 contract to replace that bridge in 1871 apparently bought a much longer-lasting version of the span.
Brasee sourced the white pine for the 100-foot-long bridge from nearby Greenville, Michigan, and used a Brown truss system to construct the bridge.
The Brown truss style, patented by Josiah Brown of Buffalo, New York, used x-shaped bracing. Brown's system was more cost effective than similar styles like the Howe truss because it used lighter pieces and less lumber. The style was popular in Michigan for a few years, but you don't see it very many other places (the covered bridge in nearby Ada, Michigan, also used a Brown truss system).
In 1872, F.A. Geill installed a sign on each end of the bridge warning against excessive speeds. It is still there, although repainted over many times.
Still, Fallassburgh continued to experience a slow decline.
In 1878, the depletion of hardwoods in the area led tearing down the sawmill, and no one bothered to replace buildings that burned down elsewhere in the village.
The village name officially became Fallasburg in 1893, and John Fallass was dead by 1896.
In 1905, the concrete and fieldstone footings replaced the bridge's original timber abutments. The post office closed and the rest of the Fallass family left the village in the same year.
Owners closed the grist mill demolished it by 1910. The town remained largely untouched through the following years.
While you could see the lack of growth and development in the area as a bad thing, but you could also view as a blessing in disguise because it preserved a piece of Michigan's rural past.
Kent County established a park around the bridge in 1928, and the village earned designation as a Historical District in 1999.
The Fallasburg Historical Society owns several properties in the 40-plus-acre village, although lack of money continues to stall efforts to turn it into a functioning tourist attraction.
The bridge remains much as it did in the late 1800s, with subsequent repairs done with an eye toward keeping the historical integrity of the bridge intact.
The bridge has a load limit of three tons and remains one of a handful of bridges in the state that still handles vehicular traffic (this group includes the vintage Langley Covered Bridge near Mendon and Zehnders modern span in Frankenmuth).
Want to learn more about Michigan's covered bridges? Check out A Guide to Michigan Covered Bridges by Harold Stiver.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
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