Media Credit: Photograph courtesy Denton County Historical Commission The Old Alton Bridge was built in 1884 by the King Iron and Bridge Manufacturing Company of Cleveland and stands alone as the last remaining Pratt Truss Bridge in Denton County. [Click to enlarge]

Walking across the Old Alton Bridge is like taking a step back in time. The bridge, built in 1884, is located in a park on what used to be Old Alton Road, now Copper Canyon Road at Hickory Creek.

Today, three of Denton's 17 historic bridges, the Alton, the Gregory Bridge and the Rector Road Bridge, are listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. There are 10 other historic listings in Denton: the Courthouse, the Square historical district, the Continental State Bank, two farms and five pottery kiln sites.

Established in 1966, the register is meant to "honor a historic place by recognizing its importance to its community," according to the National Park Service.

Four more bridges, those at Gregory Road, Rector Road, County Line Road and Tom Cole Road, are honored with a Denton County Historical Marker either at their current or original locations.

The Alton is the oldest out of Denton County's 17 historic bridges and is one of the only ones that has not been relocated.

In the 1880s, Denton County hired the King Bridge Company and the George E. King Company to build a total of 26 bridges, mostly iron, according to Allan Sloan King of King Bridge. At the time, Denton had a major population increase, with the opening of the Texas Normal College in 1891 (now NT), public schools, the first bank and others.

The iron bridges were considered a "symbol of modernity, a badge of stature for the community and its growing economy and culture," according to the Texas State Historical Commission.

The county appropriated $125,000 for the bridges' construction, which was completed in 1910. Eventually, $10,000 was borrowed from the permanent school fund to afford the structures.

A few years ago, the county started to replace the old iron bridges with new ones. Only five remain in their original locations.

To preserve the bridges, the county's engineering department established an "Adopt-a-Bridge" program. While the program has existed for many years, it only became active recently, when the county started to replace the bridges.

Guyer High School, on South Teasley Lane, was first to adopt a bridge a year and a half ago. The Rector Road Bridge now "spans an environmentally sensitive area," according to the Denton County Historical Commission.

But not all the historic bridges share its fate.

"When a bridge is going to be replaced, it is slated and moved into storage for a year," said Robin Davis of the county engineering department. "If it is not adopted, then it is scrapped for metal."

Two bridges, the Nichols Road Bridge and the Sam Bass Road Bridge #2, are in this situation.

Bridge adoption must be approved by the Texas Department of Transportation. Contact the engineering department for more information at (940) 349-2960.

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