On June 3, 2008, a tornado ripped through Moscow in southwestern Rush County, taking a life, destroying homes and splintering a landmark covered bridge.

Scarcely more than a year later, a volunteer effort has covered three-quarters of the $1.4 million needed to rebuild the Moscow Covered Bridge. The rebuilding campaign is led by Gov. Mitch Daniels and Jim Schellinger, his former Democratic rival for governor and president of CSO Architects, with help from Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana.

“We’re trying to raise the final $360,000,” John Rigsbee, principal at CSO Architects and a Rush County native, recently said. “The restoration of the bridge will not only restore a transportation link, it will restore the community’s pride, heritage, identity and economic potential.”

The storm devastated Moscow. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the 1886 covered bridge was the community’s picturesque signature, a tourist attraction and also an essential path across the Big Flat Rock River. Soon after the tornado Gov. Daniels visited Moscow and announced a bold approach to reconstruct the bridge, utilizing volunteers and donations.

Project engineer Dan Barker and Parke County bridge builder Dan Collom are contributing part of their fees. Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry donated timber. All new timbers have been harvested and transported to Collom’s site in Parke County, where he has begun the intricate task of cutting and notching new timbers. The reusable historic bridge timbers have been reclaimed from the river, catalogued and stored on location.

Reusing all the original material that was salvageable, the rebuilding project will cost a fraction of the $3 to 4 million expense of a typical modern bridge. One year later, over $1 million in material, cash and services have been contributed. The volunteers hope others will sign on with tax-deductible contributions to cover the remaining $360,000 needed to complete the reconstruction of the double-span bridge.

“We believe the bulk of the bridge’s skeleton will be completed by the end of this summer,” Wayne Goodman, eastern regional director of Historic Landmarks Foundation, said.

“The Moscow Covered Bridge rebuilding project reaffirms two of Indiana’s most valuable resources — the historic landmarks that make Hoosier places unique and Hoosiers who band together for worthwhile causes,” Larry Stout, president of Rush County Heritage, Inc., said.

The nonprofit preservation organization is managing the Moscow Bridge Restoration Fund.

“Help us finish the bridge,” he pleads, by making a tax-deductible contribution to Rush County Heritage, Attn: Moscow Bridge Restoration Fund, Main Source Bank, PO Box 249, Rushville, IN 46173.

If you have a question about the project, contact Wayne Goodman at Historic Landmarks Foundation, 765-478-3172, east@historiclandmarks.org.