Faust Street Bridge

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Faust Street Bridge in Comal County. Now settle in, because this story starts long before anybody drove a nail into that iron. We're talking the 18th century — caravans rolling supplies out to Spanish missions in east Texas, all manner of travelers picking their way along El Camino Real, the King's Highway, right near this very spot on the Guadalupe River.

And the Guadalupe, well, she didn't always cooperate. Sometimes those folks had to sit and wait weeks — weeks — for floodwaters to go down enough just to cross. Weeks of sky and mud and patience.

The river didn't much care where you needed to be. Fast forward to 1887, and the Comal County commissioners court had clearly had enough of that particular arrangement. They contracted with the King Iron Bridge Company of Ohio to put something serious over that river.

What they got was one of the last wrought iron bridges built in Texas, and among the first long-term toll-free structures completed over a major waterway in the whole state. Free to cross. Right from the start.

The thing stretches more than 640 feet in length — a monumental truss structure, as the marker calls it, and it earns that word monumental. It's built with two main spans in the Whipple style, which was itself a variation on the Pratt truss design. The Pratt truss enjoyed what you might call a brief but explosive popularity in the mid- to late-19th century, and the Whipple was its more refined, shorter-lived cousin.

These spans are connected by a pin-and-hanger system, the common method of the time, and they rest on oval-shaped masonry piers — rusticated stonework, pointed ends called cut-water ends — designed to slice through whatever the Guadalupe decided to throw at them. Two smaller spans flank the two main ones. The whole thing is engineered with a kind of confident elegance that says the people who built it knew exactly what they were doing.

By 1917, the Texas Highway Department had taken notice. They designated the Faust Street bridge as a major crossing for all traffic running between Austin and San Antonio on state highway 2, formerly known as the Austin-San Antonio post road. The same corridor that El Camino Real had carved out back in the 1700s — here it was again, still movin' people from one place to another, just with a little more iron underfoot.

Then in 1934, a new concrete highway bridge went up, and the old girl stepped aside for through traffic, though she kept on serving local needs. She did that quietly for decades. Until 1979, when fire damaged her.

Fire, of all things — not the Guadalupe, not a flood, not the slow grind of time. Fire. The marker placed here in 1999 calls the Faust Street bridge one of the important historic bridges in the state of Texas, and given everything — the centuries of crossings, the wrought iron, the Whipple trusses, the toll-free promise, and the long faithful service — it's hard to argue with that.

Some bridges carry traffic. This one carried history.

What the marker says

Caravans carrying supplies to Spanish missions in east Texas and other travelers crossed the Guadalupe River on El Camino Real (The King's Highway) near this site in the 18th century. It sometimes took weeks for floodwaters to subside so travelers could cross. In 1887, the Comal County commissioners court contracted with the King Iron Bridge Company of Ohio to build a high water bridge over the Guadalupe River. Among the last wrought iron bridges built in Texas and one of the first long-term toll-free structures completed over a major waterway in the state, this monumental truss structure extends more than 640 feet in length. It is comprised of two main spans, known as Pratt (Whipple) truss spans, flanked by two smaller spans. The Whipple was a variation on the more typical Pratt truss style bridge design which enjoyed brief but explosive popularity in the mid- to late-19th century. These trusses are connected by a pin-and-hanger system, which was the common method of the time. The spans are supported by oval-shaped masonry piers with rusticated stonework and pointed, or "cut-water," ends. In 1917, the Texas Highway Department designated the Faust Street bridge to serve as a major crossing for all traffic between Austin and San Antonio on state highway 2, formerly the Austin-San Antonio post road. In 1934, a new concrete highway bridge was erected. The Faust Street bridge continued to serve local traffic until it was damaged by fire in 1979. Its unique design, using a combination of Pratt and Whipple truss types, and its wrought iron construction place the Faust Street bridge among the important historic bridges in the state. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1999