Historical Marker
Oak Forest Bridge
Gonzales, Gonzales County · Texas
Erected 2004
The two places the bridge joined were small farm towns. Oak Forest had a post office from 1877 to 1925, and an early dam there powered a gin and later generated electricity for Central Power and Light. In 1896 it counted 200 people, among them a physician and a music teacher, and a community telephone hung in J. J. Bradbury's store. Monthalia, across the river, grew around a church and a Masonic lodge of 1868; settler Phelps White supposedly named it Mount Thalia for his sweetheart who had died in Georgia, and the name was soon shortened.
What the plaque says
Oak Forest Bridge In October 1913, Gonzales County commissioners contracted with A.A. Alsbury & Company to construct a bridge over the Guadalupe River. Completed by February 1914, it connected the rural communities of Oak Forest and Monthalia, both established in the 19th century. A.A. Alsbury & Company utilized a Parker through truss design of the Ottumwa Bridge Company of Iowa for the bridge, which was originally 140 feet long and included Pratt trusses on either side of the main span. The Texas Department of Transportation relocated the main span to this site above Kerr Creek in 2004, and it now serves as an element of the community's trail system and as a reminder of early transportation. (2005)
Where it stands
29.50906, -97.42991 · Directions
More markers nearby
- The Immortal 32 — 0.9 mi
- Dr. George Washington Barnett — 1.2 mi
- Bennet Valentine — 1.2 mi
- Gonzales City Cemetery — 1.3 mi