Bridge investigation reveals that, yes, there really was an ‘Old Barnard’: Lane County Judge Charles Barnard

By BEN OLSON/For The Herald — When you drive through Alabama, you’ll notice one thing very quickly. Upon crossing any rivulet, bayou or duck pond, there will be a green sign naming the bridge. In many cases, there is no sign letting you know the name of the body of water that the bridge spans. Most of the bridges are honoring war vets or political hacks, names that may only be recognizable in that particular neck of the woods.

Here in Oregon, the only bridges that have names seem to be the ones with covers on them. A case in point is last week’s ODOT announcement on repairs to the Old Barnard Bridge. One could be led to believe, upon reading their press release, that the work was to be done on the Highway 58 bridge spanning the Middle Fork of the Willamette, just west of Oakridge. To my surprise, as I headed toward Eugene on Monday morning, the Old Barnard Bridge is the one spanning the same river on Westfir Road. It fooled the intrepid reporters of the Highway 58 Herald, as well.

Doug Bates, back editing while George Custer is away said, “I grew up in Oakridge and later lived there in retirement for 14 years, and never once did I hear the words ‘Old Barnard Bridge’”.

Who was “Old Barnard,” who merited having a bridge named in his honor? That would be Judge Charles Barnard, a Lane County judge from 1921 until 1932. Though I could find no biographical information on the judge himself, there is a waymarking.com page about the bridge in their truss bridges of Oregon section. Although there’s a nice photo of the bridge and GPS coordinates, they admit that they don’t know when the bridge was built or how long it is.

I will give you an example of how easy it is to find out things that you don’t really need to know using the internet. There was a Judge Charles Barnard who worked the California 4th District Court of Appeals from 1931 until his retirement in 1958. Texas 89th District Judge Charles Barnard has announced that he will not seek re-election.