06/27/2022
Madison County, Iowa famous for its Covered Bridges, is the location of our beautiful Covered Bridge House, built and designed by the Eli Cox’s family who built Covered Bridges locally.
In 1856, Eli Cox, one of Madison County’s early pioneers, brought his wife Mary and their 6 children from Clinton County, Ohio to Madison County, Iowa moving into a one room log cabin.
They went on to have 6 more children, Eli bought a 120-acre farm in Union Township, Madison County, Iowa. Then Eli went back to Cincinnati Ohio and bought a sawmill to saw shingles, lath and various kinds of building material. Once he got the mill set up, the first thing he did was saw native lumber for a plank house, consisting of 2 rooms, for his family of eleven.
In 1867 Eli and his sons built a brick house, which is the house in the drawing, ‘Residence of Eli Cox, Sec 5. Union Tp, Madison Co, Iowa.’ This house had 12 rooms, 2 large halls and a big airy attic. It was said it seemed like a mansion after living in their cramped quarters.
Eli Cox started building bridges in 1864. In the beginning, his first bridges were uncovered because the board of supervisors said they had too many bridges to build, and they could not afford the extra cost. Eventually Madison County would have 19 Covered Bridges.
Eli Cox and his sons George, John, and Alfred continued to build a number of wooden covered bridges in Madison County. They sawed the lumber at their own mill and built the frame of solid oak. Sourcing local building materials, the piers were built of stone quarried near the bridge sites. Even the mortar used in building the piers was Madison County's own product, the sand being hauled from the creeks and the lime burnt in their own kilns.
One of the first covered bridges that Eli Cox built was the Cutler-Donahoe Bridge over North River in Bevington in 1870 which was later moved to the Winterset City Park, near the entrance in 1979 where it stands today.
In 1876 Eli sold his sawmill and spent time contracting and building around the Winterset Court House ‘square’ including local landmarks recognised today, the Northside Restaurant on the ‘square’ and the Presbyterian Church.
Eli Cox passed away in 1885 in Madison County, Iowa aged 59. According to his obituary, he was ‘one of the most honored and best citizens of the county’ and ‘a man of honest industry.’ For his funeral procession, a team of 40 horses moved him to McDonald Cemetery located at the top of a hill, south of Covered Bridge House.
Sadly, the brick house burned to the ground in 1895. It was replaced by the house that stands today, Covered Bridge House, built by Eli’s sons. Our beautiful wood framed home echoes the pitched roof in the Covered Bridge style, favoured by Eli Cox. If you stand in front or to the right side of the house and follow the lines of the front porch, you’ll see the pitched roof, similar in design to the Cutler-Donahoe bridge.
Eli’s son Alfred and his family lived in Covered Bridge House until his death in 1938. Our grandmother and great-grandmother, Mrs. Helen Kane Kelleher, a widow, purchased the house and farm afterwards, in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s, where she raised her family of 6 children and farmed. Her son, Jack and his wife, Carita, continued the farming tradition, raising us here.
An unusual feature of Covered Bridge House is an original, large glass picture window in the dining room overlooking the North living room. According to family history, it was designed so that the farmer could sit at the dining room table and observe the passing traffic on the road from his vantage point looking through the North and South living room windows, never having to leave his chair!
Architectural highlights include high ceilings, oak woodwork and floors in the two living rooms which are original and well as the two hitching posts in front of the house. Rumour had it when the house was built, it boasted one of the first bathrooms in Madison County.
Fast forward to today, our 2021 renovation included two modern bathrooms, a new stone patio, updated kitchen, restored hardwood floors throughout, fresh paint and furnishings all done in a modern farmhouse style.
We’re thankful we can share this special place with our guests and to the Eli Cox family for their many contributions they made as a Madison County pioneer family.
We invite you to book a stay and come make memories with your friends and family at Covered Bridge House! Take a virtual tour and check us out on Airbnb:
https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/51767744?source_impression_id=p3_1651528670_jBzWjkjv4drSt%2BGL&fbclid=IwAR0Kr1255aTu7Kh5_zxz2fsdBuGy8ZCtd7aKICQ77nKhD-dNJH593OnxRSY&_set_bev_on_new_domain=1656201204_OGVlNmQ0MWU4YjQz
Source of information: http://iagenweb.org/boards/madison/documents/index.cgi?read=338151
http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/madison/bridges.htm
History of Madison County, Iowa and Its People by Herman A Mueller
Image: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45749176/eli-cox
