Elk Mills or Baldwin's Mill Covered Bridge

Elk Mills or Baldwin's Mills Covered Bridge crossed Big Elk Creek about five miles north of Elkton. The Cecil County Historical Society Bulletin #50 (August 1980) provides a brief history of Elk Mills, Baldwin's Mill, or what was also referred to as Lord's Factory:

Daniel Lord, born January 9, 1800 came from his home in Litchfield, Connecticut in the late 1830s to the general area (of Cecil County). He bought a large property of 950 acres at what is now Elk Mills in about 1843.

The property was bisected by the Big Elk Creek which was crossed by a covered bridge. There were a number of buildings, a forge which had serviced the Continental Army, a saw mill, a grist mill, manor house, and 6 to 10 frame row tenant houses. The covered bridge was washed out in the mid 1880s when a flood broke the old dam originally built to supply the feeder canal.

Elk Mills Bridge was lost in the devastating flood in Cecil County on June 26, 1884. The Baltimore Sun, Cecil Whig, Cecil Democrat and Appeal all carried articles in their newspapers detailing losses caused by the flood. The Baltimore Sun said, "The large covered bridge at Baldwin's Mills, owned by the county, was swept away." The Cecil Whig on July 5, 1884, describing the losses in District Four, said, "Covered wooden bridge over the Big Elk (100 feet) at Baldwin's Elk Mills swept away and abutments destroyed." The Cecil Democrat reported, "At Baldwin's factory the dam is gone and also the county bridge, involving a loss, including the bridge, which is estimated at $16,000."

A contract was awarded in 1884 for building an iron bridge over Big Elk Creek at Elk Mills.

Illustration of the Property of Elk Mills Company from 1877 Atlas of Cecil County, Lake, Griffin & Stevenson. Residence of William F. Baldwin on hill near top right. Courtesy Historical Society of Cecil County.

UPDATED: 06/28/2010, for information about the loss of the bridge in the 1884 flood and new information about the length of the bridge.

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