Carpenter's Bluff is a community in northeastern

Grayson County, Texas Grayson County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 135,543. The county seat is Sherman, Texas, Sherman. The county was founded in 1846 and is named ...

, United States, located on the Red River and Farm to Market Road 120, twelve miles northeast of

Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...

, connecting Grayson County and

Bryan County, Oklahoma Bryan County is a county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,067. Its county seat is Durant. It is the only county in the United States named for Democratic politician William Jennings Bryan. Bryan Co ...

. Settled ''circa'' 1860, it derived its name from that of an early settler, E. E. Carpenter, who operated a ferry across the Red River. In the early twentieth century, the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway constructed a bridge across the Red River at Carpenter's Bluff. By 1936, Carpenter's Bluff had a population of seventy-five and four businesses. Ten years later, the population had increased to 120, and the town still had four businesses.

Carpenter's Bluff Bridge

Completed in the late summer of 1910 as a railroad bridge for the Missouri, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad (MO&G) line, this landmark structure was part of a line through Grayson County to connect with other railways in order to secure better freight rates for their shipments from the Oklahoma coal mines. The bridge was designed to withstand major floods such as the one in 1908 that had destroyed several area bridges. Its design also included a wagon shelf, an extra lane to serve travelers on foot and horseback, as well as

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...

s, all of whom had to pay a toll for its use. In 1921, ownership passed to the

Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway The Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (“KO&G”) had at its height 310.5 miles of track from Denison, Texas through Oklahoma to Baxter Springs, Kansas. Its various predecessor companies built the line between 1904 and 1913. The railroad was c ...

(KO&G), which maintained the line until 1965, when the company ceased operations in Texas due to declining rail traffic. The

Texas and Pacific Railway The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California. However its lines never went we ...

maintained the bridge for a brief time and then deeded it to the counties of Grayson and Bryan. County commissioners agreed to convert the structure for vehicular traffic, and upon completion of that work, the bridge was opened as a free public thoroughfare.Miller, 2009.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Geography of Grayson County, Texas