DeSpain Bridge

The road matters more than the bridge. The Bonham to Jefferson road ran from Fannin County to the river port of Jefferson and was a main route for hauling cotton. In 1846 a man known as Brigadier DeSpain, his wife Narcissa and their three daughters claimed land on the South Sulphur River along it, and the Handbook says their bridge stood high enough to escape floods. It tied Hopkins County, whose seat was then Tarrant, to the Jefferson trade. The marker itself stands at a highway junction; its own text puts the crossing 4.2 miles southwest.

What the plaque says

DeSpain Bridge (Site 4.2 miles Southwest) Located where the Bonham-Jefferson Road crossed the South Sulphur River, this pioneer bridge served the area's rich cotton trade for some 20 years. It was constructed before 1850 by landowner Brig DeSpain and his neighbors to provide access to the county seat -- Tarrant -- in Hopkins County. The land was originally awarded to the family of Randolph DeSpain, a Texas Revolutionary soldier who was killed in the massacre at Goliad in 1836. Strongly built of native oak and bois d'arc wood, the bridge withstood heavy traffic of ox-wagons and horse-drawn vehicles. The narrow ridge of land where it was situated was known as "Granny's Neck," for Mrs. Mary Sinclair, who lived in the vicinity. Until cotton and corn became important crops, the South Sulphur River ran clear. Afterward, eroded dirt from plowed fields muddied its waters. Shortly after 1870 -- the year Delta County was organized -- heavy rains washed out the bridge. The State of Texas built a new one, which took the name of G. W. Harper, Toll Keeper. Later Hopkins and Delta counties assumed maintenance of this new bridge, which continued to channel cotton and corn wagons between the two regions for several decades. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cooper Lake State Park — 3.3 mi
  Two units on Jim Chapman Lake, a Corps reservoir proposed in the late 1930s, stalled by a lawsuit until 1984 and dedicated in 1991, with a 10.5-mile equestrian trail and wildlife land around it.
• Evergreen Cemetery — 20 mi
  Paris's town cemetery since 1866, with a carved-stone gallery that includes the Babcock monument in cowboy boots, and the grave of the three-year-old whose death led to the 1893 lynching of Henry Smith.
• Eiffel Tower — 20 mi
  A 65-foot Eiffel Tower with a red cowboy hat, built by the local welders' union in 1993 beside Paris's Love Civic Center.
• Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site — 20 mi
  The Italian-villa-style house in Paris, finished in 1868 with a lawyer's fees, where a Confederate major general turned U.S. senator and two later generations of his family lived.

More markers nearby

• Delta County — 3.4 mi
• Texas Livery Stable — 4.8 mi
• Enloe United Methodist Church — 5.7 mi
• Thomas Wilson Stegall — 6.0 mi