About this property
The Bluff Dale Bridge is a historic cable-stayed bridge (not a suspension bridge) located near Bluff Dale, Texas, United States. Built in 1891, the bridge spans 225 feet (69 m) across the Paluxy River. The road deck is 28 feet (8.5 m) above the river and held in place by fourteen 1-inch-diameter (2.5 cm) cables attached to the towers made of 9-inch-diameter (23 cm) iron pipe. The bridge was originally constructed across the river on a dirt road that became Texas State Highway 10, which is now U.S. Route 377. In 1933, a new bridge was built to handle the increasing traffic on U.S. 377. The old bridge was relocated 1.5 miles (2.4 km) upstream in 1934 and extended from 200 to 225 feet (61 to 69 m). The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 20, 1977. The bridge is on Preservation Texas' 2009 list of most endangered places due to its poor condition and lack of funds for restoration. It was closed to vehicular traffic in 1989 because of its advanced state of deterioration. Despite the name given in Historic American Engineering Record documentation, the Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge is actually a cable-stayed structure. Its deck is suspended from multiple layers of stay cables radiating from the towers, some terminating at the deck and others running continuously from one tower to the other. This pattern of cables was established in designer Edwin Elijah Runyon's first U.S. patent, US 394,940 . It is known as one of only two examples of Runyon's patents, along with the Barton Creek Bridge in Huckabay, Texas. Its hand-twisted wire cable and non-traditional use of wrought-iron pipe components make it a notable example of vernacular American bridge construction. List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Texas List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas National Register of Historic Places listings in Erath County, Texas Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. TX-36, "Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge, Spanning Paluxy River at County Route 149, Bluff Dale, Erath County, TX", 14 photos, 5 measured drawings, 27 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge
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Questions about this property
When was Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge listed on the National Register?
Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 20, 1977.
What type of historic resource is Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge?
Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge?
The period of significance for Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge is recorded as the civil_war era, specifically around 1891.
Can I research the history near Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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