Joseph Speight and the Waco Suspension Bridge

One of the most famous landmarks in Central Texas is the Waco Suspension Bridge in McLennan County.  Waco was founded on the banks of the Brazos River just below where it is joined by the Bosque River.  For years, the only crossing nearby was Shapley Ross' ferry that connected what is now East Waco, connecting with the road extending to Dallas, to downtown Waco at the extension of Austin Avenue to the river, connecting a main route to Marlin.  It was also one of several Brazos River crossings of the famed Chisholm Trail.

After the Civil War, certain Waco residents including J. W. Speight, J. B. Earle, H. M. Hood, A. J. Buchanan, O. J. Downs and J. M. Burney held a preliminary discussion to consider a project to build a bridge to span the Brazos in Waco.  Following this discussion, they drew up a petition to the Texas Legislature to grant them a charter to undertake the project.  On November 1, 1886, a charter was granted allowing the group to build an operate such a bridge for 25 years.  The bridge could be funded as a toll bridge and would have a limited monopoly in that no other bridge could be built within 5 miles of Waco.

Speight then called a meeting to be held May 8, 1868 that was attended by himself, Earle, Downs and Burney and they resolved to create the Waco Bridge Company.  It would be stock company, funded by a subscription of 2,500 shares offered for sale to the public at $20/share totaling $50,000.  In the two weeks that followed, the initial offering was subscribed and the first meeting of the Company was held May 25, 1868.  57 individuals signed the minutes including Speight, his daughters Jessie and Sally and future governor Richard Coke.  Speight was nominated to serve as President but Coke nominated and spoke in favor of J. T. Flint who would be elected president of the company.  Initial directors were Speight, Trice, Coke and Wallace.  Coke was a distant relative of Speight's by virtue of the fact that he was married to Mary Evans Horne, whose brother L. L. Horne married Ophelia Jenkins .  It is unknown whether Coke's lack of support disappointed Speight, but there is no obvious evidence that it did.  Speight, Prather and Owens were appointed to draw up bylaws and Speight made a motion that Flint also be added to this group.  Flint opined that he felt the bridge could be built for $40,000.

Things progressed rapidly from this point with the selection of the New Jersey firm of John A. Roebling as designer of the bridge.  Flint was authorized to go to New York City to meet with the firm, set up the contract with Roebling and order the initial materials.  Engineer Thomas M. Griffith was engaged to head up the project.

The location chosen was in the same general area as the Shapley Ross Ferry boarding sites.  On the west side the connecting street was redesignated as Bridge Street.  About three acres were acquired on the east side from Earle's Waco Manufacturing Company.  Bids were let for the masonry portion of the contract and a local company named Trice Brothers was chosen as the supervising contractor.  Trice also furnished the brick and the McCrary and O'Neal company was engaged to furnish the wooden planking.  Engineer George B. Dutton who was also serving as Waco City Engineer was engaged to string the cable.

On March 15, 1869, a capital call of the last 20% of the initial stock subscription was made when it became obvious that costs were going to exceed the initial subscription of $50,000.  Flint was authorized to obtain a loan for another $15,000, which he did.  In addition, the company authorized a second subscription of stock to raise another $25,000.  Construction progressed toward its conclusion.

One expenditure noted was the approval of $13.13 for the purchase of whiskey for the bridge hands as the project neared its end.  The bridge was completed by December 1969 at a total cost of about $141,000 and the first tolls were collected January 1, 1870.  Funding came from the initial and secondary stock subscriptions and from bonds and loans.  The project included the toll house on the west side which still stands today.

Tolls were collected for a few years, but almost immediately opposition to the toll feature began to be voiced, despite the fact that the tolls were needed to pay for the operation and cost of the bridge.  The bridge company continued to own and operate the facility for more than a decade, though one by one the initial officers went on to other pursuits or left due to illness, death or other reasons.  Flint resigned in November, 1873; Coke resigned because he had been elected governor of Texas; Speight died in 1888.

Other notable events in the timeline included a petition by W. A. Taylor to extend his streetcar line over the bridge, which petition was denied.  In 1878, Thomas Griffith was reengaged to fix a sag that had developed in the cabling.  In 1884 and again in 1885, there were floods that came close to submerging the downtown area with the flood in 1885 being noted as the worst flood in the short history of the town.

Opposition to the toll feature reached its peak in the 1880s.  After discussions, effective September 1, 1889, McLennan County offered to purchase 100% of the stock of the Waco Bridge Company.  The offer was accepted and control of the structure was effectively transferred on that date. The cost to the County was equal the shareholders' investment of $75,000.  Simultaneous with the above transaction, McLennan County conveyed the structure to the City of Waco for $1 and the bridge has since been operated without tolls.

The Roebling firm would go on to complete the famed Brooklyn Bridge.  In the meantime, it completed other suspension bridges, but had the wire rope design not worked in Waco, the Brooklyn Bridge might have had to be redesigned.  To the untrained eye, the similarities between the two structures are easily noted, though the Brooklyn Bridge is clearly a much larger and more complex project.  In contrast to the Waco Suspension Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge took 13 years to complete, at an estimated cost of $15,500,000.

Over the years, the wood planking was upgraded and replaced.  In 1913, the City replaced the older steel with higher gauge steel to handle the heavier traffic and trusses were added to accommodate pedestrian traffic.  The brick towers were rebuilt and stuccoed, giving the structure virtually the appearance it has today.  The bridge was designated in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 on its centennial anniversary.  It was retired from vehicular traffic the following year but is still in continuous use for other traffic and events.

Note: This article draws heavily on the fine work done by the late Roger N. Conger, who obtained and studied the minutes of the Waco Bridge Company and added his own research.

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Richard Byrd Burleson (1822-1879)

Richard was the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Byrd Burleson and was the younger brother of Rufus C. Burleson.  He was born in Decatur, Alabama and died in McLennan County, Texas on December, 1879. 

He was reported to have qualified for an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, but his father withdrew his claim on the appointment in favor of James Longstreet, the son of a poor widow, who later became one of the foremost generals in the Civil War.  Burleson graduated from Nashville University in Tennessee in 1842.  That same year, he was ordained to preach as a Baptist minister.  He served as pastor of the Athens Alabama Baptist Church for the following two years, after which he served as pastor of Tuscumben Baptist Church another four years.  Richard married Sarah W. Leigh in 1847.  From 1849 to 1855, he served as principal of the Baptist Female Institute of the Muscle Shoals Association after which he moved to Austin, Texas and served as pastor of a church there.  His wife, Sarah Leigh died in 1854 and he married Mary Frances Halbert in 1857.

His degree was in the field of science, and at the request of his brother Rufus, he became professor of Natural Science at Baylor University at Independence, Texas in 1857.  He later moved to Waco, Texas upon accepting the position of Vice President of Waco University, again joining his brother Rufus Burleson there. 

In 1874, he was selected by Governor Richard Coke to serve as a member of the first Geological Survey of the State of Texas.  The assignment of the group was to assess the mineral wealth of the state.  During his tenure, he identified oil fields near Tyler and salt deposits near Grand Saline.  Following this assignment, he returned to the faculty of Waco University, serving as a professor in the science department until his death on December 21, 1879. 

Byrd was regarded as a fine scholar in theology, botany and astronomy and was an accomplished and well regarded educator.  He was described as being frank, candid, gentle, sympathetic and tender, all qualities that served him well as a pastor and professor.  Burleson was deeply religious.  At a bedside service held shortly before his death, Richard requested that the 23^rd Psalm be read and that those gathered sing “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.”  

Governor Richard Coke (1829-1897)

Governor Coke is related to the Jenkins family by marriage.  He was the husband of Mary Evans Horne of the pioneer McLennan County Horne family in 1852 and was the brother-in-law of Ophelia Jenkins Horne.  Coke was born in Virginia and after graduating from William and Mary, he moved to Waco, Texas in 1850 to practice law.   

In the tumultuous early years of Texas statehood that followed, Coke established his law practice and began to venture into public office.  Coke served as a delegate to the convention that was to vote for succession from the United States in 1961.  Shortly thereafter, the Civil War began and he joined the Confederate Army in 1862, serving as Captain in the 15^th Texas Infantry for the duration of the war.  His only known injury was on November 3, 1863 in a battle near Opelousas, Louisana.  At the close of the war, he returned to McLennan County.

Almost immediately, Coke accepted an appointment as a District Court Judge in Texas.  He was elected to the Texas Supreme Court the following year, only to be fired by Gen. Phillip Sheridan along with four other justices in an effort to advance reconstruction.   In the intervening years, there was a strong backlash to reconstruction, leading to his successful Democratic campaign for Governor in 1873, defeating the incumbent Edmund J. Davis, only to have his election ruled invalid by the Texas Supreme Court.  After several contentious months, former Governor Davis resigned and Coke was allowed to take office, serving from 1874 to 1876.

Significant accomplishments during his terms as Governor of Texas included a strong focus on balancing the state budget and the establishment of the college now known as Texas A&M University. Coke later was elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas serving in that capacity from 1877 to 1895.

He retired to his home in Waco and his nearby farm. He became ill after suffering exposure while fighting a flood of the Brazos River on the family farm near Waco in April, 1897. After a short illness, he died at his home in Waco and, after a state funeral, was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Coke County in West Texas is named in his honor.