Esser's Crossing at Wesson
Spring Branch, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
IN THE MID-1800s, A WAGON TRAIL CALLED FREDERICKSBURG ROAD RAN 19 MILES NORTHWEST OF NEW BRAUNFELS TO ONE OF THE FIRST SAFE GUADALUPE RIVER ROAD CROSSINGS. ESSER’S CROSSING AT SPRING BRANCH SERVED ALMOST ONE HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS AS A PLACE DESIGNATED FOR SECURE PASSAGE INTO THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF THE STATE FROM NEW BRAUNFELS AND SAN ANTONIO TO JOHNSON CITY AND FREDERICKSBURG. THE CROSSING PROVIDED A SAFE, SHALLOW SOLID ROCK RIVER BOTTOM CROSSING FOR PIONEERS AND THEIR OX-DRAWN WAGONS AND HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES. AS EARLY AS 1850, THIS CROSSING ON THE GUADALUPE RIVER WAS KNOWN AS HENDERSON CROSSING. A GERMAN IMMIGRANT, CHARLES ESSER, SR. (1827-1902), SETTLED IN THE AREA IN 1858 AND PROVIDED A PUBLIC WAY-STATION ALONG THE ROUTE. ESSER WAS A JUDGE, JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, AND SCHOOL TEACHER, AND WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN GETTING A POSTAL STATION, CALLED WESSON, IN THE AREA. CHARLES BEIERLE, SR. WAS THE POSTMASTER BETWEEN 1893 AND 1907. WHEN THE CROSSING WAS FLOODED, TEAMSTERS DROVE TO FISCHER’S STORE, DEVIL’S BACKBONE OR PURGATORY ROAD TO CROSS OVER THE 1887 FAUST STREET BRIDGE IN NEW BRAUNFELS. BY 1903, THE PUBLIC AND COMAL COUNTY OFFICIALS BEGAN DISCUSSIONS TO BUILD A SECOND BRIDGE TO PROVIDE HIGH WATER CROSSING OVER THE GUADALUPE RIVER. IN 1904, THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT SELECTED ESSER’S CROSSING TO RECEIVE THE BRIDGE. AFTER ITS CONSTRUCTION, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS WERE BROUGHT TO THE NEW BRAUNFELS AREA FROM AS FAR AWAY AS JOHNSON CITY. THE WROUGHT IRON WHIPPLE TRUSS BRIDGE, A POPULAR STYLE OF THE TIME, WAS COMPLETED IN 1904. THE BRIDGE DESIGNED FOR ONE-WAY TRAFFIC DISPLAYED A SIGN FORBIDDING FAST DRIVING OR RIDING OR DRIVING MORE THAN TEN HEAD OF LIVESTOCK ON THE BRIDGE AT ANY ONE TIME. ESSER’S CROSSING BRIDGE WAS DESIGNATED AN OFFICIAL UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL STATION IN 1923. AREA RESIDENTS SERVED AS GAUGE ATTENDANTS TO RECORD ANNUAL DATA. THE 1904 BRIDGE WAS LATER CONDEMNED AND REMOVED IN 1979. (2012)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the mid-1800s, Fredericksburg Road ran northwest of New Braunfels to one of the first safe crossings of the Guadalupe River, a shallow, solid-rock ford that carried ox-drawn wagons and carriages toward Johnson City and Fredericksburg. German immigrant Charles Esser settled here in 1858 and ran a way-station, and the site gained a postal station named Wesson. County officials chose the crossing for a wrought-iron Whipple truss bridge, completed in 1904 and later removed in 1979.
Why it matters
River crossings like this determined the routes of commerce and settlement across the Texas Hill Country, and the arrival of an all-weather bridge marked the passage from pioneer trail to modern road.
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Related people
- · Charles Esser
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Spring Branch Post Office
Spring Branch, TX
German immigrants Gottlieb Elbel and Christiane Zeh settled this farm after arriving in Texas in 1849 and were among the founders of Spring Branch. In the two-room log cabin Gottlieb built in 1852, the Spring Branch Post Office operated from 1867 to 1872 with Elbel as postmaster, its mail carried on horseback between New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. His surviving postal journal is a valuable record of the correspondence of area residents.
Specht's Crossing
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This gravel-bed low-water ford carried horse-drawn carriages across the San Antonio–Blanco Road toward the German settlement of Spring Branch, and despite frequent flooding its use grew between 1875 and 1906. Postmaster Hans Von Specht ran the local post office from his hilltop home overlooking the crossing, which came to bear his name. Automobiles later used the ford until a low-water bridge replaced it in 1920, followed by a new Civil Works Administration bridge in 1934.
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