Oak Forest Bridge
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
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)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In late 1913, Gonzales County commissioners hired A.A. Alsbury & Company to bridge the Guadalupe River, and by February 1914 the crossing joined the rural communities of Oak Forest and Monthalia. Builders used a Parker through truss designed by the Ottumwa Bridge Company of Iowa, flanked by Pratt trusses along its original 140-foot length. In 2004 the Texas Department of Transportation moved the main span here over Kerr Creek, where it now carries a community trail.
Why it matters
The relocated truss preserves an early-twentieth-century river crossing that once knit isolated farm communities together, a working reminder of how bridges opened rural Texas to travel and trade.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early 1900s, rural Texas still moved at the pace of horses and wagons, though automobiles were starting to appear on county roads. Rivers like the Guadalupe could cut farm communities off from one another. Without a bridge, a trip to a neighbor, a church or a cotton gin could mean a long detour or a risky ford that high water made impassable.
Before Texas set up a state highway department in 1917, roads and bridges were mostly the counties' job. County commissioners hired private companies to build crossings, often choosing standard steel truss designs sold by bridge firms in the Midwest. Many such bridges went up across Texas in the years around 1910.
Gonzales County already had deep historical roots. The town of Gonzales is famous for the 1835 "Come and Take It" skirmish that opened the Texas Revolution. By the twentieth century, though, the county's daily concerns were farming, ranching and getting goods and people across its rivers.
People & events
In October 1913, the Gonzales County commissioners signed a contract with A.A. Alsbury & Company to bridge the Guadalupe River. The work moved quickly, and the bridge was finished by February 1914. It linked Oak Forest and Monthalia, two rural communities founded in the nineteenth century that the river had long kept apart.
The builders used a Parker through truss design from the Ottumwa Bridge Company of Iowa. In a "through" truss, traffic passes between the steel frameworks rather than riding on top of them, and the Parker type is known for its angled, polygonal top chord. The original crossing ran 140 feet, with shorter Pratt trusses on either side of the main span.
The bridge got a second life ninety years later. In 2004 the Texas Department of Transportation moved the main span to this spot above Kerr Creek. Now it carries walkers on the community's trail system instead of wagons and Model T's.
Its place in the American story
Bridges like this one are quiet monuments to how rural America got connected. In the early twentieth century, steel trusses from catalog-style bridge companies spread across the country. They let farm families reach markets, schools and towns in any season. A design drawn in Iowa and built over a Texas river shows how national industry reached into local life.
The Oak Forest Bridge also reflects a turning point in American transportation. Within a few years of its completion, states were building highway departments and the automobile was changing how people traveled. Many county truss bridges were later replaced by wider concrete crossings, and the survivors have grown rare.
Moving a historic span for reuse instead of scrapping it is part of a broader national movement to keep historic bridges. Giving an old truss a new job keeps a piece of engineering history where people can still walk across it and touch it.
If you visit
This is a historic site you can actually use. Walk onto the span and look up at the steel framework around you. Notice how the top chord bends in a series of angles, the mark of a Parker truss, and how diagonal and vertical members share the load. Look for rivets and connection plates that show early-twentieth-century construction methods.
It's a great stop for families. Children can see how a truss works by tracing the triangles, and the trail setting makes a pleasant walk. Bring a camera, since the steel lines make striking photographs against the sky.
Pair this stop with a visit to historic Gonzales and its Texas Revolution sites for a day that runs from 1835 to the age of the automobile. As you drive the area's back roads, imagine how much longer every trip took before bridges like this one crossed the rivers.
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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Themes & tags
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