1931 Free Bridge Controversy
Denison, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
As a result of late 1920s legislation in Texas and Oklahoma, the two states cooperated on a project to build free highway bridges spanning the Red River to accommodate rapidly increasing highway traffic. One of these bridges was near Colbert Bridge, a toll bridge descended from the mid-19th century Colbert's Ferry. When the Free Bridge was ready to open in early July 1931, the Red River Bridge Company, operators of Colbert Bridge, obtained a federal restraining order against the opening of the Free Bridge until contractual payments had been made to compensate the company for their anticipated loss. Texas Governor Ross Sterling complied, but Oklahoma Governor William Murray, who was not a party to the contract between the Texas Highway Commission and the Red River Bridge Company, asked Governor Sterling to join him in protesting the injunction. Sterling refused. Murray ordered the removal of barricades erected by the Texas Highway Commission. For twelve hours, traffic flowed freely across the bridge. By July 17, Texas Rangers guarded the southern side. Oklahoma highway crews rerouted traffic from Colbert Bridge to Preston Bridge several miles away and dismantled the approach to the Colbert Bridge from Oklahoma. As tensions came close to breaking in the summer heat, the injunction was suspended; the Texas Rangers opened the bridge on Labor Day, 1931. It served until 1995, when it was replaced by a new structure. A portion of the Free Bridge was placed in a park in Colbert, Oklahoma, about two miles north. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Texas and Oklahoma jointly built a free highway bridge over the Red River in 1931, the toll-bridge company that operated the nearby Colbert Bridge won a federal injunction to keep it closed. Texas Governor Ross Sterling complied, but Oklahoma's William Murray ordered the barricades torn down and traffic flowing—prompting Texas Rangers to guard the southern approach. The standoff eased when the injunction was suspended, and the Rangers opened the bridge on Labor Day.
Why it matters
The 'Red River Bridge War' captures a colorful moment when two governors nearly came to blows over free public roads, marking the shift to state-built infrastructure in the automobile age.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
By 1931, the world that had depended on ferries and toll bridges was giving way to the age of the automobile. Cars and trucks were multiplying fast, and the dusty crossings that had served wagons and stagecoaches could not keep up. Across the country, states were building free public highways and the bridges to carry them — and along the Red River, Texas and Oklahoma had agreed to cooperate on exactly that.
The Red River still divided the two states, and a toll bridge there stood as a direct descendant of a mid-19th-century ferry — a private crossing that charged for passage, backed by a company with a financial stake in remaining the only way over. When the states planned a new, free bridge nearby, that company saw its business about to vanish.
The stage was set for a very modern kind of conflict: not over land or honor, but over roads, contracts, and who had the right to charge a traveler for crossing a river. It played out in the summer heat of 1931, and it became one of the odder standoffs in the history of the two states.
People & events
When the new Free Bridge was ready to open in early July 1931, the Red River Bridge Company — operators of the nearby toll bridge — went to federal court and won a restraining order, arguing the states owed it compensation for the business it was about to lose. Texas Governor Ross Sterling complied and kept the free bridge closed.
Oklahoma's governor, William "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, was not a party to that contract, and he was not inclined to wait. He asked Sterling to join him in protesting the injunction; Sterling refused. So Murray simply ordered the barricades removed, and for twelve hours traffic flowed freely across the bridge. By July 17, Texas Rangers were guarding the southern end. Oklahoma crews responded by rerouting traffic away from the toll bridge and tearing out its approach on the Oklahoma side — leveraging the state's authority over its own bank of the river.
As tempers frayed in the summer heat — with Murray even calling out state forces on his side — the legal knot finally loosened. The injunction was suspended, and on Labor Day 1931 the Texas Rangers opened the bridge for good. It served travelers until 1995, when a new structure replaced it, and a piece of the old Free Bridge was preserved in a park in Colbert, Oklahoma, a couple of miles north.
Its place in the American story
The "Red River Bridge War" is remembered with a smile, but it marks a serious turning point in American life: the shift from private, toll-based crossings to free, state-built roads. The automobile made public highways a necessity, and the confrontation here dramatized the moment when the old model — a company profiting from the only bridge in reach — collided with the new one of infrastructure provided for all.
It is also a vivid example of American federalism at its most colorful. Two governors, two state governments, a federal court order, and a disputed river boundary all tangled together over a single bridge. The episode showed how questions of jurisdiction between neighboring states could turn a highway project into a genuine crisis — and how they could be resolved without anyone actually coming to blows.
Most of all, it captures the texture of the early 1930s, when a nation increasingly on wheels was rebuilding itself around the car. The free public bridge won, and that outcome — repeated in countless quieter places — is the reason Americans can drive across most rivers today without reaching for their wallets.
If you visit
This is a spot where a very tall tale really happened. Stand at the Red River crossing and picture the summer of 1931: barricades going up and coming down, Texas Rangers posted on the southern bank, highway crews tearing out a bridge approach on the far side — all over the right to drive across for free.
The modern bridge you'll see is not the one from the standoff; that 1931 span served until 1995 before it was replaced. But a portion of the original Free Bridge was saved and set in a park in Colbert, Oklahoma, a short drive north — a tangible relic of the fight, if you want to lay eyes on the real thing.
It's an easy and rewarding stop on a Red River road trip, and a rare marker that tells a story equal parts history and comedy. Read the inscription with the river in view, and enjoy the fact that this ordinary-looking crossing was once the flashpoint of a genuine, if bloodless, war between two states.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Ross Sterling
- · William Murray
Related events
- · Red River Bridge War
Themes & tags
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