DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice carryin' it down the road. Now, you want to talk about a bridge with a story, we're gonna talk about the Rainbow Bridge, right here over the Neches River in Orange County. It starts the way so many Texas stories start — with oil and ambition and a whole lot of people showing up all at once.
The petrochemical industry was booming across Orange and Jefferson counties in the early twentieth century, and with that boom came people, and with people came the eternal Texas problem: how do you get from here to there? For a while, the answer was the Dryden ferry, established in 1926. And the Dryden ferry did its best.
It truly did. But a ferry is a ferry, and pretty soon it was buckling under the weight of all that traffic. Plans started taking shape for something bigger.
Something permanent. Something that could actually span the Neches River. Now, funding a bridge like that — that's a puzzle.
Jefferson County put in. The State of Texas put in. The federal government, through the Public Works Administration, put in.
Orange County? The citizens were supportive, make no mistake, but the county's economic situation at the time just didn't permit monetary assistance. So they cheered from the bank, so to speak.
Construction began in 1936, and it was not a quick affair — took over two years before that thing was done. When it was finished, it stood 176 feet tall and stretched 7,760 feet in length. At that moment in time, it was the largest bridge ever built by the State of Texas.
Let that settle over you for a second. Dedication day was September 8th, 1938. About twenty thousand people turned out — twenty thousand — to watch this thing get born into the world.
And they didn't just cut a ribbon and call it a day. There was a boat regatta on the river. And — here's where it gets good — a stunt diver climbed all the way to the top of that 176-foot bridge and plunged into the water below.
Somebody actually did that. On purpose. In front of twenty thousand people.
The bridge didn't get its name right away, though. That came later — 1957 — when a contest was held and the structure was officially christened the Rainbow Bridge. Named in a contest.
Dedicated with a diver. Built by three governments and the willpower of a region on the rise. That, right there, is a Texas bridge.
What the marker says
The rapid growth of the petrochemical industry in Orange and Jefferson counties in the early 20th century led to increased population in this area. In order to serve the transportation needs of workers and others in this vicinity, the Dryden ferry was established in 1926. It soon proved inadequate for the volume of traffic, however, and plans began for the construction of a bridge to span the Neches River. Jefferson County, the State of Texas, and the Federal government (through the Public Works Administration) all provided funding for the bridge's construction. While the citizens of Orange County also supported the project, the county's economic situation did not permit monetary assistance. Construction of the bridge began in 1936, and was not completed until over two years later. Measuring 176 feet in height and 7760 feet in length, it was the largest bridge ever built by the State of Texas up to that time. Dedication ceremonies were held on Sept. 8, 1938, attracting a crowd of approximately 20,000. Among the activities were a boat regatta on the river and a stunt diver's plunge from the top of the bridge into the water below. The structure was officially named "Rainbow Bridge" in a 1957 contest. (1990)