Half a football field long and over 16 feet wide, Locust Creek Covered Bridge was built in 1868 on a budget that amounts to a little over $100,000 present day. White pine and iron in a Howe-truss structure created the spot for fishermen and romantics.

John J. Pershing, a World War I general, visited the bridge often in his youth. Its interior is carved with initials and sweet nothings. According to local residents, the bridge was a place to profess your love. The romance of the Locust Creek Covered Bridge spun tales until it was bypassed in 1930, when the course of the creek changed after Worl War II it became a dry creek bridge—resting on nothing but mud and silt.

Luckily in 1968, the state of Missouri acquired the bridge and taxpayers funded the repairs, turning it into the state historic site it is today. In 1991, the bridge underwent another renovation, it was elevated six feet to keep the wooden floor off the creek bed.