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The Backstory: Historic Williamson County bridges that have survived a hundred years of floods
The Easley and Hoxie bridges east of Georgetown date back to the beginning of the 20th century, and one is said to be haunted.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas — With springtime comes the ever-constant threat of heavy rain and sometimes floods in our part of the state. Along the San Gabriel River in Williamson County, there are some unusual survivors from a devastating flood that happened there a hundred years ago: the Easley and Hoxie bridges east of Georgetown.
There’s something about old bridges that captures our imagination, whether imagining the horses and buggies that crossed the wooden deck when the 20th century was brand new, or the thousands of cars and trucks thaT made their way to the small communities on the eastern side of Williamson County.
One abandoned bridge along County Road 366 near Circleville has two names. Some call it the Rowe Valley Bridge, but it’s officially known as the Easley Bridge, named after the family who built it in 1909.
The old bridge is a survivor, though it was almost lost in the historic flood of 1921. Williamson County was devastated by all the rain that fell that September: 38 inches of rain in just 18 hours in nearby Thrall.
The bridge washed away, but workers put it back on its piers and raised it four feet. It served until 1982 when a far less classy-looking concrete bridge took its place.
That 1921 flood nearly destroyed a similar bridge not far from there, known as the Hoxie Bridge. That bridge comes with its own ghost story.
According to legend, the old bridge was haunted. After the flood of ‘21, prisoners were brought in. During the reconstruction of the bridge, the story goes that one of the prisoners got out of line and one of the guards shot and killed him. His body was said to have been strung up in a tree near the bridge as a constant reminder to the workers to not cause trouble.
The legend has it that the bridge was haunted for years by a headless corpse as his ghost would wander the river bottom or sometimes be perched upon the rafters of the bridge.
The Hoxie Bridge was dismantled in 1979 and moved to the park in Taylor and is now part of a walking trail.
Two bridges, two survivors: Still with us from a time so long ago.
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