Old Walnut Creek Bridge is shown March 31, 1922. Mr. Goodnight is shown on a horse. The wood bridge with steel piers spanned Walnut Creek on North Street. More than 8 inches of rain fell on April 25, 1922, and washed the bridge away. Mexican laborers worked on the railroad and lived in a box car on the railroad siding. The flood washed the boxcar off the track and three people drowned. Forrest Bratton made coffins and the three were buried in unmarked graves in the southwest corner of the Cumberland Presbyterian Cemetery, the oldest section of the Mansfield Cemetery. The bridge was replaced in 1922 by a concrete bridge, then replaced by the current bridge in 1983.
To learn more about Mansfield history, check out the Mansfield Historical Museum, 102 N. Main St., open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. For more info, call 817-473-4250, emailmuseum@mansfieldtexas.gov or go to mansfieldhistory.org.
Photo courtesy of the Mansfield Historical Society.
Mansfield, Texas, is a booming city, nestled between Fort Worth and Dallas, but with a personality all its own. The city’s 76,247 citizens enjoy an award-winning school district, vibrant economy, historic downtown, prize-winning park system and community focus spread across 37 square miles. The Mansfield Record is dedicated to reporting city and school news, community happenings, police and fire news, business, food and restaurants, parks and recreation, library, historical archives and special events. The city’s only online newspaper launched in September 2020 and will offer introductory advertising rates for the first three months at three different rates.