Fallasburg Covered Bridge, Lowell

Fallasburg Bridge is a 100ft span Brown truss covered bridge, erected in 1871 in Vergennes Township, Michigan, United States, north of Lowell on the Flat River. Carrying Covered Bridge Road across the Flat, it is located in the Fallasburg Historical District south of Whites Bridge and Smyrna. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and along with Whites Bridge, Langley Covered Bridge, and Zehnder's Holz Brucke, is one of only four Michigan covered bridges open to vehicle traffic.
The bridge uses the Brown truss system, a through truss consisting of diagonal compression beams and (optionally) almost vertical tension members (slanting in at the top toward the center of the span). This system was patented by Josiah Brown of Buffalo, New York, in 1857. The Brown truss is similar to the Howe arrangement of "X" bracing and counter bracing, but uses lighter members and less timber. It contains no upright compression members and uses no iron except for bolt connectors at the timber intersections. Builders used the Brown truss successfully in at least four covered bridges in Michigan, three of which (Ada Covered Bridge, Whites Bridge and this one) are still in existence. The Brown truss was thus briefly popular in Michigan but did not gain wide acceptance elsewhere. Make Fallasburg Covered Bridge a centerpiece of your Lowell vacation itinerary, and find what else is worth visiting using our Lowell trip planner.