Clifton Whipple Truss Bridge

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll let the story do the talking. Now, most bridges don't get a name. They get a number, maybe a county designation, and that's about it.

But this one, spanning the North Bosque River right here in Bosque County, this one carries a name with some weight to it. The Clifton Whipple Truss Bridge. And the name matters, because a Whipple truss is named for the person who designed that very style of bridge.

So every time somebody called this bridge by its proper name, they were tipping their hat to the designer. The bridge itself was built in 1884, put together by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company out of Canton, Ohio. It cost six thousand, four hundred and sixty-five dollars.

And for that price, you got one hundred and fifty feet of span reaching clean across the North Bosque River. That is not a trivial piece of engineering, and it was not a trivial sum. Now think about what that bridge meant to the people living around here.

Travel routes from the south and west could now connect north and east. Before that crossing existed, the river was the river, and it had opinions about where you were going. The bridge changed the conversation.

And then came the floods. Not one flood, not a single dramatic event the county talked about for a generation. Many floods.

The marker is plain about that. And the bridge stood through all of them, providing an important transportation connection for Bosque County residents from 1884 all the way to 1941. That is a long run of reliable service.

What ended it wasn't a flood. It was a highway. In 1941, traffic was routed west of the Bosque River to the newly constructed Highway 6.

Progress moved on, as it tends to do, and left the old bridge standing quietly beside the newer way. One of the few remaining Whipple truss bridges in the state, they say. And here it still is, a hundred and fifty feet of wrought iron legacy, holding its ground above the North Bosque River, long after the last wagon crossed it.

What the marker says

Built in 1884 by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio, at a cost of $6,465, this bridge spans 150 feet across the North Bosque River. This type of bridge, called a Whipple truss, was named for its designer. One of the few remaining Whipple truss bridges in the state, it opened up travel routes from the south and west to the north and east. Withstanding many floods, the bridge provided an important transportation connection for Bosque County residents from 1884 to 1941 when traffic was routed west of the Bosque River to the newly constructed Highway 6. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996