The Regency Suspension Bridge
Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(near extinct town of Regency, 22 mi. SW) This area's first Colorado River bridge was at Regency, on Mills-San Saba county line. Built 1903, it served ranchers and farmers for going to market, but fell in 1924, killing a boy, a horse, and some cattle. Its successor was demolished by a 1936 flood. With 90 per cent of the work done by hand labor, the Regency Suspension Bridge was erected in 1939. It became the pride of the locality, and youths gathered there in the 1940s to picnic, dance, and sing. Bypassed by paved farm roads, it now (1976) survives as one of the last suspension bridges in Texas. (1976)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
At the near-vanished town of Regency on the Mills–San Saba county line, the area's first Colorado River bridge went up in 1903, only to collapse in 1924, killing a boy and several animals; its replacement fell to a 1936 flood. In 1939, with ninety percent of the work done by hand, the Regency Suspension Bridge was raised, becoming a beloved local gathering place where young people picnicked and danced in the 1940s. Bypassed by paved farm roads, it endures as one of the last suspension bridges in Texas.
Why it matters
The bridge is a hand-built monument to how rural crossings knit isolated ranch country together—and to the ghost towns left behind when the roads moved on.
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Nearby & related markers
Regency Suspension Bridge
Goldthwaite, TX
Slung across the Colorado River near the now-vanished town of Regency, this crossing was born of hard rural necessity: the first area bridge went up in 1903 to link ranchers and farmers across the Mills–San Saba county line. Two spans were lost—one collapsing fatally into the river in 1924, another swept away by a 1936 flood—before the current suspension bridge was raised in 1939, built almost entirely by hand. In the 1940s it became a gathering place where young people came to picnic, dance, and sing, and though paved highways later bypassed it, it endures as one of the last suspension bridges in Texas.
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