Programs & Grants
We are a small organization, so we keep our programs small, practical, and focused on the gaps that bigger institutions overlook. A covered bridge rarely fails all at once; it fails one missed repair at a time. Everything below exists to catch those repairs early.
Preservation Micro-Grant Program
Since 2004, HCBA has awarded 87 micro-grants totaling just over $140,000 to county highway departments, township trustees, and friends groups. Grants range from $500 to $2,500 and are intentionally simple: a two-page application, a decision within sixty days, and a one-paragraph report when the work is done.
Typical funded projects include:
- Roof shingle and siding repair
- Debris removal and drainage work at abutments
- Fire retardant treatment
- Interpretive and directional signage
- Matching funds to unlock larger state or federal grants
Applications are accepted twice a year, with deadlines of April 1 and October 1. Request an application packet from the office by mail or through our contact page.
Documentation Project
Volunteers photograph and measure every bridge in our registry on a rotating schedule, so that no bridge goes more than five years without a fresh condition record. When the worst happens — flood, fire, or collision — these records are what make faithful reconstruction possible. This summer, our intern is digitizing the association's archive of 2,400 slides and prints dating back to 1974.
School Outreach: "Trusses in the Classroom"
A traveling kit of model truss bridges (kingpost, queenpost, Town lattice, and Howe) that 4th–8th grade teachers can borrow for two weeks at no charge. Students build the trusses, load them with textbooks until something gives, and learn why a lattice of pine planks held up grain wagons for a century. Three kits are in circulation; reserve early for fall semester.
Fall Driving Tours
Each October we publish self-guided driving tour maps for three regions — Madison County, Iowa; Parke County, Indiana; and Ashtabula County, Ohio — timed to peak color. Maps are free to members and $3 by mail to everyone else.
Bridge Days (Annual Gathering)
Our annual meeting, held each September in Winterset. Two days of bridge tours, workshops (timber framing, archival photography, grant writing), the annual business meeting, and the potluck that members plan their travel around. See News for this year's details.