The folks of St. Anthony, who have lived around Buechter Bridge much of their lives, are sad to see the old bridge go and I can sure understand their feelings. I was asked to write a story about its history and I am proud to do so because I feel it is part of my history also. Many Sunday mornings I have driven the old country road to Buechter Bridge, crossed over its shaky timbers and said a silent prayer that I could safely get across on my way to Fairview Church a short distance south and west of the bridge. Some winter mornings if the weather wasn’t the best of the season, I would travel the long route around through Iberia and then go north once again to travel on another country road that would take me to the little country church.

According to what I can find, a man named Joseph Dice, a bridge builder of Warsaw, Missouri, constructed many suspension, swinging bridges in Missouri . He built more in Miller County than any other location----at least 7 including Buechter, Boeckman, Kemna, Kliethermes, Mill Creek, Grand Auglaize and the first bridge at Tuscumbia spanning the Osage River in 1905. The county had 2 other bridges (Singer and Hoecker) but according to records, Joseph Dice did not build them. 

In central Missouri , Mr. Dice also built three bridges in Benton County, two in Maries County, one in Henry County, and one in Cooper County. He built about 30 swinging suspension bridges in this era of time but very few remain. None have ever collapsed during the years they existed. The only thing that has destroyed the bridges has been flood waters.

The first swinging, suspension bridge at Tuscumbia was one of the earliest bridges he built. It was constructed in 1905 and then in the 1920s and early 30s was when he mainly built the other bridges in Miller County. One record states that Buechter bridge was built in 1925 while another says circa 1910…..I don’t know which is the correct date, but it is approaching 100 years in existence and has served so many families in northern Richwoods township. It is 141 feet long and 12 feet wide with the one-lane wooden deck spanning the Big Tavern below.

I am sure the Buechter Bridge was given that name because of the Buechter families who lived nearby. They were descendants of some of the German immigrant families who came to central Missouri and first settled in the Westphalia area in Osage County . They ventured on westward and settled in Miller County , first locating in the St. Elizabeth area but in later years they came south to Richwoods township and bought farming lands in the Big Richwoods near what would become St. Anthony after the turn of the 20th century. St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church was built in the early 1900s at the village of St. Anthony and these families had to ford the Big Tavern Creek to attend masses at their new church. It must have been a difficult journey finding a place to cross the Big Tavern from the bluffs that surrounded the creek on the south side. When the county decided to build a bridge across the Tavern it must have been an exciting time for these families.

Unfortunately, one tragedy has occurred on Buechter Bridge. In 2000, a county road employee, who was driving a loaded dump truck, attempted to cross the bridge and the timbers did not hold the excess weight. The truck fell through the floor of the bridge and landed in the creek below and the young man drowned in the waters of the Big Tavern. With the loss of a life and the age of the bridge, one must understand that it was time to consider replacement with a new structure that would be safer for travel between Iberia and St. Anthony on the old county road that has been used by local residents for several generations.

So “Closed till Further Notice” is appropriate until the time arrives when a new bridge will be built for safe passage over the much-used road……..a study taken in the early portion of the 21st century showed that approximately 60 cars used Buechter Bridge Road and the old bridge daily for traveling……. I had no idea, until I saw the results of that study by the Missouri Department of Transportation, that the old road and bridge had that much daily traffic!