DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Regency Suspension Bridge, out in Mills County. Now, some places earn their reputation the hard way. The Colorado River crossing near the town of Regency — that's about twenty-two miles southwest of where this marker stands — it went through not one, not two, but three bridges before it finally got one worth keepin'.
The first bridge went up in 1903. Built to serve the ranchers and farmers of the area, give them a way to get their goods to market across the Colorado, right there on the Mills-San Saba county line. And it served them well enough — for a while.
Then came 1924, and the bridge fell. Killed a boy, a horse, and some cattle. That's not a footnote.
That's a tragedy, and you sit with it a moment before moving on. So they built a successor. And that one lasted until 1936, when a flood came along and demolished it.
The river, it seemed, had strong opinions about permanence. But the people around Regency, they weren't done. In 1939, they erected the Regency Suspension Bridge — and here's the part worth savoring — ninety percent of the work was done by hand labor.
Ninety percent. No grand machinery, no outside contractors sweeping in to save the day. Just hands and will and probably a fair amount of stubbornness.
And that bridge, that third bridge, it became something. The pride of the locality, the marker says. In the 1940s, young people gathered there to picnic, to dance, to sing.
A river crossing turned gathering place, out on the edge of a near-extinct town. Time moved on, as it does. Paved farm roads bypassed it.
The crowds thinned. But as of 1976, the Regency Suspension Bridge was still standing — one of the last suspension bridges in all of Texas. Three bridges, decades of heartbreak and hard work, and what you're left with is one old bridge the river couldn't quite finish off.
I'd call that a win.
What the marker says
(near extinct town of Regency, 22 mi. SW) This area's first Colorado River bridge was at Regency, on Mills-San Saba county line. Built 1903, it served ranchers and farmers for going to market, but fell in 1924, killing a boy, a horse, and some cattle. Its successor was demolished by a 1936 flood. With 90 per cent of the work done by hand labor, the Regency Suspension Bridge was erected in 1939. It became the pride of the locality, and youths gathered there in the 1940s to picnic, dance, and sing. Bypassed by paved farm roads, it now (1976) survives as one of the last suspension bridges in Texas. (1976)