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Medio Creek through
truss bridge
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, February 2009 |
Normanna
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Nearby on CR 241 is the historic MEDIO CREEK BRIDGE.
The bridge was the idea of Viggo Kohler, a man who later built
the large Viggo
Hotel in Hebbronville
(1915). He petitioned the Bee County Commissioners to accept bids
in June of 1897. The bridge arrived in kit form and was assembled
by the Austin Brothers Bridge Company.
Near the bridge - the town of Mineral
had been something of a health resort in the 1890s. Deepening the
well caused the mineral content to decline to the point where people
no longer came.
The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1985 and became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1987. |
Historical
Marker Text
Built in 1897 by
the New Jersey Iron and Steel Company, this bridge has served as one
of the major crossings on the road from Beeville
to San Antonio. Funding
for the bridge was acquired from the sale of bonds from Bee
County's permanent school fund. Construction costs totaled $3,990.
The steel Pratt through truss bridge, with a wooden deck and approaches,
rests on riveted-steel caissons, or piers. It has survived numerous
floods. The top of the bridge was restored in 1923, and a new floor
was constructed in 1947. The bridge remained in service for vehicular
traffic until 1987.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1987 |
The current condition
of the Medio Creek Bridge
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, February 2009 |
| "Writing
on the back of the postcard is a message from one of the men pictured
on the bridge to his sister. He states this is the new bridge they
just built. Postcard dated May 1909." - Will
Beauchamp |
The
Medio Creek Bridge in a foggy morning
"Mother nature has pretty much taken it over."
- Will
Beauchamp, November 12, 2007 photo |
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