Ohio Street Bridge

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it the way it deserves to be told. The Ohio Street Bridge. Wichita County, Texas.

Now, when Wichita County got itself organized in 1882, one of the very first things folks started thinking about was how to get from one side of the water to the other. Not a bad instinct. Planning for a bridge at this site began soon after that organization, and the job went to the King Bridge Company, all the way out of Cleveland, Ohio.

They built the thing, and on July 4, 1886, they dedicated it. The Fourth of July. Of course they did.

If you're going to open a bridge in Texas, you might as well do it with fireworks in the sky. That first span connected the downtown area of Wichita Falls to the northern sections of the city, and for a time, that connection was the lifeline. Then came 1911.

A second span was completed, sitting just to the west of the original. Two bridges now. A vital connection doubled, the city knit a little tighter together across that water.

But here's the part that tends to sit heavy. By 1972, both bridges were closed to vehicles. Unsafe structural conditions, the record says.

The older span, that proud Fourth of July bridge, the King Bridge Company's work from Cleveland, Ohio, was demolished. The second one stood. Maybe a monument, maybe just a remnant.

Wichita County organized in 1882, a bridge dedicated in 1886, a second built in 1911, and by 1972 the traffic had moved on. Some crossings last forever in the telling, even when they don't last on the ground.

What the marker says

Planning for construction of the first bridge at this site began soon after the organization of Wichita County in 1882. The structure was built by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and formally dedicated on July 4, 1886. This second span, located west of the original bridge, was completed in 1911. Both provided a vital connection between the downtown area of Wichita Falls and northern sections of the city. The bridges were closed to vehicles in 1972 because of unsafe structural conditions and the older span was demolished. (1980)