Main Street Bridges
Historical marker location:A number of bridges have been built over Salado Creek on Main Street since
1870. After the town of Salado was laid out in 1859, citizens crossed the creek
using various combinations of rocks and logs. When local citizens and students
at Salado College began to demand that a proper bridge be constructed across
the creek, town officials voted to issue bonds to fund the project.
The first bridge, built in 1868-69, was constructed by local volunteers. The
cable wire suspension footbridge, with cedar crossbars and a wooden plank
floor, was destroyed in a 1900 flood.
The second bridge, a larger structure which would accommodate wagon as well as
foot travel, was an iron bridge built by the King Bridge Company in 1892.
Located a few yards west of the suspension footbridge, it rested on piers of
rock and mortar, and was destroyed in a flood in 1913. Replaced a year later,
the duplicate bridge was washed away in a 1921 flood.
A concrete bridge was built across the creek in 1922. Anchored with reinforced
steel set into the rock creek bed, it proved to be a more permanent solution
than previous efforts to bridge the stream and continues to be a focal point in
the town.
Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1936.