Fall Creek Stone Arch Bridge is located near the Adams County

Adams County, Illinois

Adams County is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 67,103, which is a decrease of 1.7% from 68,277 in 2000...

 town of Payson, Illinois

Payson, Illinois

Payson is a village in Adams County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,066 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Quincy, IL–MO Micropolitan Statistical Area....

. It spans Fall Creek

Fall Creek

-In the United States:Streams*Fall Creek *Fall Creek *Fall Creek Falls , a waterfall of Lake Buchanan Populated places*Fall Creek, Oregon, an unincorporated community*Fall Creek, Wisconsin, a village...

 about 1.2 miles northeast of Payson Road, upstream from the town. The bridge has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 since November 7, 1996.

History

It is largely unknown when the bridge was built but estimates put it somewhere in the early 19th century. The bridge's engineers and designers are lost to history as well yet their bridge remains. The Fall Creek Stone Arch Bridge spans Fall Creek in a near perfect arc

Arc (geometry)

In geometry, an arc is a closed segment of a differentiable curve in the two-dimensional plane; for example, a circular arc is a segment of the circumference of a circle...

, a distance of 43 feet at a height of 35 feet from the creek. The bridge is constructed from limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

, gathered nearby. The records of its construction were lost in an 1880s fire.