Indiana Bridge Company Collection

The Ball State University Libraries' Drawings + Documents Archive and Archives and Special Collections both hold extensive archival collections from Muncie's oldest employer, the Indiana Bridge Company, which first opened in 1886. The collections include original architectural drawings, photographs, specification books, and company papers. The collections are divided, with the architectural drawings at the Drawings + Documents Archive and the photographs and manuscript material located at Archives and Special Collections, but they have come together in our online collection in the Digital Media Repository. There you will find photographs of bridges being built, shop drawings of bridge standards and patterns, company papers, and even a bridge plaque that originally hung on one of the company's bridges.


Image: Through Baltimore Truss Bridge blueprint, ca. 1900. Indiana Bridge Company Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

More March Madness + Sullivan Fever

Today's basketball images from the Archive come from our extensive Indiana Bridge Company collection, and include a client file card and 1960 newspaper clipping of the Anderson High School gymnasium during construction in Anderson, Indiana, in nearby Madison County. The original structure was destroyed by fire in the late 1950s and it was rebuilt as it stands now, in 1960.

Founded in 1886 and still operating under the name Indiana Bridge-Midwest Steel Inc., Indiana Bridge Company is Muncie's oldest manufacturer. When the Indiana Bridge Company was established by Theodore F. Rose and associates on May 17, 1886, the company built truss bridges not only for the needs of Indiana but nationwide. It later converted to making steel girders for the construction industry. During World Wars I and II, the company participated in the mobilization for the war by producing steel for the United States and its allies.

The client file cards are 4 x 6 inch cards, housed in a ca. 1900s wooden filing cabinet in the Archive. They contain information on all clients of the Indiana Bridge Co. from the beginning of the company until the 1970s. The first column is the job number, the second column is the date, the next column has a description of the job.

This particular file card is interesting due to the notes and extra jobs required due to an "architectural change" and "drawing room error."

Anderson High School is known as the "Anderson Indians" and the gymnasium is called the Wigwam. This massive building seats nearly 9,000 fans and is the second largest high school gymnasium in the country. In case you're wondering, the largest high school gymnasium seats 9,325 people and is located in New Castle, Indiana, which is only about 25 miles away from the Anderson gymnasium. As for the top ten largest high school gyms in the country, only two are located outside Indiana.