DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and friends, this one's got some miles on it. We're talking about Moore's Crossing Bridge, and the story starts not here but downtown Austin, right at Congress Avenue, spanning the Colorado River. Back in 1884, the King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Co. out of Cleveland, Ohio, built a six-span bridge across that river.
Six spans. A proper piece of iron work, designed and constructed to carry the weight of a growing capital city. And for over two decades, it did exactly that.
Then came 1910, and somebody decided it was time to take the whole thing apart. Dismantled — every span — and put in storage. Now, most things that get put in storage tend to stay there, gathering dust and regret.
But not this bridge. Five years later, three of those spans got pulled back out and rebuilt right here at Moore's Crossing. New location, new purpose, second life.
You'd think that'd be the happy ending. You would be wrong. The very same year those three spans went up — 1915 — a flood came through and destroyed them.
Gone. Just like that. The Colorado River, which that bridge had crossed so faithfully for so many years downtown, sent its answer in the form of rising water.
But here's where it gets stubborn, and Texas stubborn at that — the remaining spans, the ones that had been sitting in storage all along, those came back. The current bridge was completed in 1922, built from what was left, and it has been standing here ever since. Started as six spans on Congress Avenue in 1884, survived dismantling, survived storage, lost three spans to a flood, and finished the job with what remained.
Some things just refuse to be done.
What the marker says
This structure was originally part of a six-span bridge across the Colorado River at Congress Avenue in Austin. Constructed there in 1884, it was designed by the King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1910 it was dismantled and placed in storage. Five years later three spans were rebuilt here but destroyed the same year in a flood. The current bridge, comprised of the remaining spans, was completed in 1922. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980