Gallery of Forgotten Texas Bridges: The Beauchamp Collection. (original) (raw)

Editor�s Note: Will and Karla Beauchamp of Tuleta, Texas both descend from ancestors who planted cotton. Will�s father also taught Texas history in nearby Pettus, Texas. The apple doesn�t fall from the tree and Will discovered early on that he had inherited the history gene.

In Mr. Beauchamp�s own words: �I started out collecting antique bottles in my youth in the Tuleta / Beeville area of South Texas. My father teaching history just fueled my desire to collect historical items, especially from South Texas. I then started collecting cotton gin postcards. Almost every town in Texas had at least one cotton gin and many had several. Before and after the Civil War many Southerners migrated to Texas. The families were so big that most farms were self-sufficient. Many cotton farmers who knew nothing else found that cotton didn't grow very well in some regions.

About five years ago I caught the bridge craze. The story of the old Texas bridges is similar to the fate of the gins. Almost all of them are gone now and it's a history that some of us want to save. I thought that by sharing my collection with Texas Escapes� readers, it would reach a much larger audience than it would stuck away and only seen by a few.�

Forgotten Texas Bridges - Series One:

Ballinger, Corpus Christi, Junction, Marble Falls, Marlin, Mineral Wells, Concho River Bridge, Tandy�s Station, Tuleta and Gatesville

Ballinger, Texas, Colorado River, The G.C. & S.F. Railroad Bridge (still standing)

Concho River Bridge, also known as the Lone Wolf Bridge, Lone Wolf, Texas
Postcard circa 1906

Corpus Christi, The old Bascule Bridge opening for the USS Constitution (�Old Ironsides�) Dismantled and replaced by the current bridge in the early 1960s.

Bridge at Junction, Texas - postcard dated Jan 3, 1926 (No information available)

Brazos River Bridge, Marlin, Texas - postmarked 1907 (supports still visible in 2007)

Bridge at Tandy's Station (on Texas-Mexico border), burned.
No information available on the bridge or the community.

New Medio Creek Bridge at Tuleta, Texas.
"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

Forgotten Texas Bridges - Forum

Subject: Thank You
I really enjoyed seeing all of Will Beauchamp's old bridge postcards! My great-grandfather came to Texas from France in 1869, and within a few years he was working for the old I&GN Railroad (merged with Missouri Pacific). He was a bridge engineer, and actually supervised the crews who built or repaired many of these old train bridges you show here, especially the ones in central Texas, in his nearly 50 year career with the railroad. I had no idea what that work entailed, and it was a real treat to see these pictures so I can pass them on to my grandchildren! Thank you! - Kaye Vivian, July 10, 2010

Subject: Gallery of Forgotten Bridges
What great photos!! I was doing some research on an old bridge in Ballinger and happened upon your site. There is one bridge you identify in your Forgotten Gallery as the Concho River bridge � I believe it is also known as the Lone Wolf Bridge. Keep up the great work � very interesting and educational! - Kathy Keane, San Angelo, June 18, 2008