Bedstead Truss Bridge (Mulberry Creek Bridge)

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this one. Now settle in, because not every great Texas story involves a gunfight or a cattle drive. Some of them involve iron, and a creek, and a bridge that just refused to quit.

This is the story of the Bedstead Truss Bridge over Mulberry Creek, out on the Old Praha Road in Fayette County. The year was 1888. Two outfits took on the job: the King Iron Bridge Company, out of Cleveland, Ohio, and their sub-contractor, A.

J. Tullock and Company, up from Leavenworth, Kansas. Between them, they put together a sixty-foot iron structure described, in the careful language of engineers, as a single span, box-chord, pin-connected modified Pratt low truss bridge with counters.

Now that is a mouthful. But here is the thing about a name like that. It tells you this bridge was built with intention.

Every pin, every chord, every counter in that truss was placed on purpose. The whole affair cost one thousand, four hundred and twenty-two dollars at the time of its construction. Not a fortune, even then.

But what they bought for that price was access, a way in to the developing community of Schulenburg, right there on the Old Praha Road, which was part of a major travel route through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Wagons rolled across it. Folks made their way to town and back.

Life moved over that bridge. And here is where the story gets quietly remarkable. Most iron bridges of this style are gone.

Worn out, torn down, replaced by something wider or something cheaper or something modern. But this one is still standing. One of the few of its kind left anywhere.

Out on the Old Praha Road, over Mulberry Creek, a sixty-foot piece of 1888 craftsmanship holding its ground. Not every legend makes a lot of noise. Some of them just endure.

What the marker says

Built in 1888 by the King Iron Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and its sub-contractor, A. J. Tullock and Company of Leavenworth, Kansas, this bridge provided easy access to the developing community of Schulenburg. Located on the Old Praha Road, it was part of a major travel route during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The 60-foot iron structure, described as a single span, box-chord, pin-connected modified Pratt low truss bridge with counters, cost $1,422 at the time of its construction. It is one of the few bridges of this style still standing. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990