Texas' Historic Regency Suspension Bridge Bridge. (original) (raw)

The Regency Suspension Bridge over the Colorado River
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, March 2008

Colorado River Bridge at Regency

Regency's 1939 bridge is one of eight remaining suspension bridges in Texas and has been used in commercials and as a backdrop for television programs. It was rededicated March 1, 1999.

The original 1903 bridge fell in 1924 and its replacement was swept away in a flood in 1938. Construction of the bridge was from April to October of 1939.

Mills and San Saba Counties both paid for construction of the bridge which was built with local labor under supervision of the Austin Bridge Company of Dallas. During WWII, the bridge was visited by troops stationed at nearby Camp Brady and locals used the bridge as a meeting place and held dances there.

By Mike Cox

When you�re standing on a suspension bridge and the span begins to bounce as a car starts across, it may be necessary to suspend an instinctive urge to run.

This is especially true with the Regency Bridge, which crosses the Colorado River 23 miles from Goldwaithe to link Mills and San Saba counties. Looking down at the river below, a normally robust appears to be considerably smaller.

Suppressing hard-wired flight impulses can be even more difficult if you�ve pulled off Mills County Road 127 to read the 1976-vintage historical marker summarizing the bridge�s history. The first bridge on this site was built in 1903. That structure, a traditional truss bridge, lasted only 23 years � practically a blink of an eye when it comes to public infrastructure typically designed to last a half-century or more.

Unfortunately, what the first bridge�s builder surely considered impossible happened on May 9, 1924 when a rancher and his two sons pushed a herd of cattle across the bridge... more ›

Historical Marker
In Goldthwaite, on Fisher St (183/16)

Regency Suspension Bridge

(Near extinct town of Regency, 22 mi. SW)

This area's first Colorado River bridge was at Regency, on Mills - San Saba County line. Built 1903, it served ranchers and farmers for going to market, but fell in 1924, killing a boy, a horse, and some cattle. Its successor was demolished by a 1936 flood. With 90 per cent of the work done by hand labor, the Regency Suspension Bridge was erected in 1939. It became the pride of the locality, and youths gathered there in the 1940s to picnic, dance, and sing. Bypassed by paved farm roads, it now (1976) survives as one of the last suspension bridges in Texas.
1976

Another view of the Colorado River Regency Suspension Bridge
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, March 2008