Fundraising Begins to Restore Poland Forest Bridge

POLAND, Ohio – The Poland Forest Foundation has started fundraising to renovate the Mauthe Bridge in the Poland Village Municipal Forest.

The $86,000 campaign will cover restoration work on the “Swinging Bridge”, which the foundation hopes to have completed by fall, said the foundation’s president, Charles Rumberg. 

Mauthe Bridge was named after J.L. “Pete” Mauthe, former president of Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co., who donated the materials for its construction in 1956. The bridge has been closed since July 2018 after an engineering study deemed it unsafe for pedestrian traffic.

The Poland village council and municipal forest board have been gathering input from the community and soliciting solutions since the bridge’s closing. The renovated bridge, designed by MS Consultants, retains the suspension construction and preserves the look of the bridge while addressing all of the safety concerns. 

Donations can be sent to the Poland Forest Foundation at, 308 S. Main St., Poland, Ohio 44514. A GoFundMe page for the project, which can be found here, has also been set up.

Pictured: A rendering of the proposed renovations to Mauthe Bridge in Poland Village Forest.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.