DUANE
Duane's take
The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker record — so let's see what history left us out here along Cibolo Creek. Now, John Murphy McAlister was born in 1807, and by the early 1850s he and his wife Isabella — she was a McClain before she married — had settled the family down in La Vernia. That might've been enough for most folks, but in 1857, the McAlisters went ahead and purchased several hundred acres on the southwest bank of Cibolo Creek.
And right there, adjacent to their property, was a natural crossing in the stream. People started calling it McAlister Crossing, and for years it served residents on both sides of that creek. Simple as that.
Useful as anything. Isabella passed in 1872. John held on until 1885, and when he did go, the McAlister children subdivided the land.
Around that same time, county commissioners were bringing some order to the local roads, and they designated the route running through that crossing as Road No. 62 — what you'd call County Road 337 today. Then in 1906, the Henry Mueller family came into the picture, purchasing land on the east side of the creek. And wouldn't you know it, a son of that family would later buy land on the west side too, just southwest of McAlister Crossing.
The Muellers had themselves positioned on both ends of whatever came next. In 1908, county commissioners permitted telephone poles to go up along the road and the creek crossing. Things were moving.
And by 1915, the Commissioners Court had contracted with the Alamo Construction Company of San Antonio to erect five bridges across the county. Five bridges. One of them was at McAlister Crossing.
Now, of those five new structures, the bridge at McAlister Crossing was the most expensive. Completed in 1915. Cost nearly nine thousand dollars.
That was not a small sum, and they did not spend it cheaply. What they built was a three-span, 252-foot bridge featuring polygonal camelback trusses with multiple panels — engineering that turned heads and held weight. Because the Mueller family owned property on either end of that bridge, people started calling it Mueller Bridge.
So a crossing that carried one family's name now carried another's on the structure itself. McAlister Crossing. Mueller Bridge.
Both names earned. For more than seventy years, that bridge served local residents, surviving Cibolo Creek's occasional raging waters. Let that sink in — raging waters, more than once, and the bridge held.
It was closed to vehicular traffic in 1988, but it's still standing out there, a historic link to the engineering designs of the early twentieth century. Some things just refuse to wash away.
What the marker says
John Murphy McAlister (1807-1885) and his wife, Isabella (McClain) (1817-1872), settled in La Vernia with their family in the early 1850s. In 1857, they purchased several hundred acres of land on the southwest bank of Cibolo Creek. The natural stream crossing adjacent to their property became known as McAlister Crossing and for years served residents on both sides. The McAlister children subdivided the land following their father's death in 1885. About the same time, county commissioners designated the local route, including the crossing, as Road No. 62 (present County Road 337). In 1906, the Henry Mueller family purchased land on the east side of the creek; a son would later buy land on the west side, just southwest of McAlister Crossing. In 1908, county commissioners permitted the placement of telephone poles along the road and the creek crossing. In 1915, the Commissioners Court contracted with the Alamo Construction Company of San Antonio to erect five bridges in the county, including one at McAlister Crossing. The most expensive of the new structures, the bridge at McAlister Crossing, completed in 1915, cost nearly $9,000. Because members of the Mueller family owned property on either end of the bridge, it was often called Mueller Bridge. The three-span, 252-foot Mueller Bridge at McAlister Crossing features polygonal camelback trusses with multiple panels. For more than 70 years it served local residents, surviving Cibolo Creek's occasional raging waters. Closed to vehicular traffic in 1988, it remains a historic link to engineering designes of the early 20th century. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2004