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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.”
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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 |
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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 |
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