DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Now, before there were highways cutting through Ellis County, before there was much of anything you'd call modern infrastructure, there was a creek. Waxahachie Creek.
And where that creek could be forded, crossed on foot, on horseback, by wagon, that's where settlers made their way. That crossing had already been serving pioneer settlers of the area before anyone thought to put a proper bridge over it. But in 1889, someone finally did.
That year, a truss bridge went up right there on that early fording site, and it wasn't some local cobbled-together affair. It was manufactured by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company, out of Canton, Ohio; a company that clearly had Ellis County's attention, because this bridge was one of thirteen the county commissioners approved between 1888 and 1890. Thirteen bridges.
They meant business. This particular span carried Rogers Street across that creek, and Rogers Street itself was named for a man called Emory Rogers, the donor of the Waxahachie townsite. So you've got a man who gave the town its ground, a street that carries his name, and a bridge that carried that street across the water.
The Rogers Street Bridge wasn't just a convenience. It sat on an important early North-South commercial route, and that position made it vital; that's the word the marker uses, vital; to the growth and development of the city. Some crossings just get you to the other side.
This one helped build a whole town.
What the marker says
Located on an early Waxahachie Creek fording site that served pioneer settlers of the area, this truss bridge was built in 1889. It was manufactured by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio, and was one of thirteen approved by Ellis County commissioners from 1888 to 1890. The span provided an extension for Rogers Street, a road named for Emory Rogers, donor of the Waxahachie townsite. As part of an important early North-South commercial route, the Rogers Street Bridge was vital to the growth and development of the city.