Bedstead Truss Bridge (Mulberry Creek Bridge)
Schulenburg, Fayette County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1888 by the King Iron Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and its sub-contractor, A. J. Tullock and Company of Leavenworth, Kansas, this bridge provided easy access to the developing community of Schulenburg. Located on the Old Praha Road, it was part of a major travel route during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The 60-foot iron structure, described as a single span, box-chord, pin-connected modified Pratt low truss bridge with counters, cost $1,422 at the time of its construction. It is one of the few bridges of this style still standing. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1888 by the King Iron Bridge Company of Cleveland with a Kansas subcontractor, this sixty-foot iron span carried the Old Praha Road across Mulberry Creek and opened easy access to the growing town of Schulenburg. A pin-connected, box-chord modified Pratt low truss — the "bedstead" type — it cost just $1,422 to erect and served a major travel route into the early twentieth century. Few bridges of its distinctive style still stand.
Why it matters
Surviving iron truss bridges are increasingly rare artifacts of the engineering that stitched rural America together before the age of the automobile and concrete highway.
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