Name: Bridgeport, Texas
Address: Bridgeport, TX

The Town That Moved to Coal City RoadyGoat

1893

In 1893 the railroad came, but not quite where the town was. The Rock Island line was routed through the coal fields about two miles from the old Bridgeport, so the coal company gave land for a depot and a brand-new town was platted right by the tracks. They first christened it Coal City. One newspaper of the day captured the migration perfectly, reporting that, quote, Bridgeport is making a general move to Coal City. And move it did, residents picked up their homes and businesses and relocated to the rails. The downtown streets were named for the coal-company founders, names like Halsell and Cates that you can still read on the street signs of Bridgeport today.

Five Hundred Miners, and the Slow End of Coal RoadyGoat

1900

At its peak just after 1900, the Bridgeport coal operation employed around five hundred men, and many of them were immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, who lived in rows of miners' cottages right beside the pits. It was hard, dangerous work in tight tunnels. The decline came not from a disaster but from changing fuel: a natural-gas pipeline arrived in 1910, and around 1915 the railroad, the mines' biggest customer, switched its locomotives from coal to oil. The orders dried up, the miners drifted away, and by 1929 most of the pits had closed, though one stubborn mine kept digging into the early 1940s. The coal that built Bridgeport gave out within a single lifetime.

Stagecoaches and a Lake RoadyGoat

1931

Bridgeport leans into its frontier roots harder than most towns. The Texas legislature officially named it the Stagecoach Capital of Texas, and the town displays a real Concord stagecoach and throws an annual celebration called Butterfield Stage Days, after the famous mail line that once crossed its bridge. Just northwest of town lies the other reason travelers come: Lake Bridgeport, a sprawling reservoir of more than ten thousand acres, created in 1931 when a dam went up on the West Fork of the Trinity. Between the stagecoach heritage downtown and the boating and fishing out on the water, a town built on a toll bridge and a coal seam reinvented itself, once again, as a place worth stopping.

Mexican Americans and Repatriation

1930

Although a great deal of attention has been focused on Mexican immigration by scholars on both sides of the border, far less attention has been given to emigration of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the United States. Casual reference has been made in many studies to the repatriation of Mexicans from Texas, but few published studies have examined these departures in detail. The most neglected era of Mexican repatriation from the United States is before 1930. Although substantial Mexican repatriation from Texas occurred at that time, no published study has examined Mexican departures between 1836 and 1930. Mexican repatriation during the Great Depression has received more attention. During the 1930s, a single article on Mexican repatriation from Texas was published; "The Mexicans Go Home" by Edna E. Kelley appeared in the Southwest Review in 1932. Nothing more appeared until the 1980s, when four brief articles on diverse aspects of depression-era repatriation appeared. These included articles on deportation from the lower Rio Grande valley (1981), on Mexican repatriation and the Texas Cotton Acreage Control Law of 1931–32 (1983), on the repatriation of Bridgeport, Texas, coalminers (1984), and on Mexican repatriation from South Texas (1990). Mexican repatriation from Texas is often associated with the Great Depression of the 1930s because of the massive exodus that occurred during that time. Large numbers of Mexicans were repatriated from Texas before that time, however. The departures began soon after Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Much of this cross-border migration was associated with the seasonal return of Mexican labor to Mexico each fall. However, exceptionally large numbers of Mexicans were compelled to return to Mexico periodically. Perhaps the first large-scale repatriation occurred at the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848. San Antonio, for example, was practically abandoned by Mexicans after 1848, and a number of Mexicans were repatriated under the sponsorship of the Mexican government in the late 1840s. The precise number of Mexicans returned to Mexico from Texas during this period is unknown, although they probably numbered several thousand. During the remainder of the nineteenth century, harassment against Mexicans by Anglo-Americans was occasionally so severe that many were forced to abandon their homes in Texas and return to Mexico. In the 1850s a number of Mexicans were driven from their homes in Central Texas, and in 1856 the entire Mexican population of Colorado County was reportedly ordered to leave the county. Conflict between Anglo-Americans and Mexicans in the 1870s reportedly resulted in the expulsion of Mexicans from various locations in South Texas. The first mass Mexican repatriation movement from Texas during the twentieth century occurred in 1915 and was an indirect result of efforts by Mexicans to implement the irredentist "Plan of San Diego ." Although the plan consisted of fifteen specific points, its fundamental objective was to organize the Mexican people of the Southwest and encourage them to rebel against United States authority and reconquer territories lost by Mexico to the United States in the nineteenth century. Mexican efforts to implement the plan resulted in numerous well-organized raids against the Texas Rangers , local posses, and the United States Army in the lower Rio Grande valley beginning in July. The panic that gripped Anglo-American society in the Valley after July 1915 resulted in widespread harassment and intimidation of the Mexican population of Texas. Fear among Valley residents changed to hysteria in September as the border raids increased. Anglo-American fear and vengeance proved to be effective in intimidating Mexican residents, as evidenced by the forced repatriation of thousands of Mexicans. By mid-September the repatriation movement became a massive exodus, as the roads leading to the border were congested with lengthy wagontrains of fleeing Mexi

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Hunt, Col. William Hudson

1836

(1815-1864) Born in Ithaca, New York, William Hudson Hunt became a principal figure in the development of Wise County. He came to Texas in 1836, joining the War for Independence. He then served in the Army of the Texas Republic, participating in the Santa Fe Expedition. His engineering and surveying skills led to an appointment to the council which located the site of the Texas capitol. He also surveyed public and school lands and proposed roadways. In 1855, Col. Hunt became an early Wise County pioneer, settling along the Trinity River's West Fork. He built his residence and ranch headquarters on a hill (later Cactus Hill) at the confluence of a creek (later Hunt's Creek) with the West Fork. He and his wife, Catherine (Cordel), raised five children on the land. Hunt built livestock and grazing operations, and together with neighbors, including noted rancher Daniel Waggoner, he began a cattle business that later thrived. Hunt also specialized in raising sheep. Col. Hunt was also a community leader. He laid out the county seat of Taylorsville (later Decatur) and became postmaster at Cactus Hill. He was also active in church and Masonic activities. Additionally, he led residents in a successful effort to encourage routing of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route through Wise County. In 1861, after the death of his wife, Col. Hunt moved his family to Decatur. His death in 1864 was the result of a wreck caused by a runaway team of horses leading his vehicle. Col. Hunt and other family were originally buried in their family cemetery in Cactus Hill, but the construction of a dam and creation of Lake Bridgeport led to their reinterment here. Today, Col. Hunt is remembered as a pioneer, rancher and noted leader in the early days of Wise County. (2008)

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Bridgeport Coal Mines

1882

Once a staple of Bridgeport's economy, coal was discovered here in later part of 19th century. Diggers hit vein 60 feet deep while seeking water. Mine No. 1 lies under northeast Bridgeport, and entire area is honeycombed with tunnels and shafts. Wise County Coal Company was chartered August 23, 1882, by C. D. Cates, J. C. Carpenter, J. G. Halsell, J. J. Lang, H. Greathouse, and D. Waggoner. The firm was bought in 1900 by Colonel William H. Aston of Virginia. Renamed Bridgeport Coal Company, it had 500 employees at Zenith. Mines closed in 1929 due to increased use of oil and gas.

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Republic of Texas' Santa Fe Expedition in Wise County

1841

IN JUNE 1841, REPUBLIC OF TEXAS PRESIDENT MIRABEAU B. LAMAR COMMISSIONED AN EFFORT TO INCREASE TEXAS’ POLITICAL, MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL INFLUENCE IN SANTA FE, THEN A PART OF MEXICO CLAIMED BY THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. A PARTY OF 321 MEN SET OUT FROM NORTH OF AUSTIN ON BRUSHY CREEK (PRESENT-DAY ROUND ROCK) ON JUNE 19. THIS GROUP INCLUDED MERCHANTS, ENGINEERS, INFANTRYMEN AND A NEWSMAN. THEY TOOK WITH THEM A LARGE QUANTITY OF TRADE GOODS AND ONE CANNON. THE EXPEDITION HAD GREAT DIFFICULTY PENETRATING THE DENSE UNDERGROWTH OF THE WESTERN CROSS TIMBERS OF NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS. THREE MILES SOUTHEAST OF HERE, THE MEN BURNED MOST OF THEIR TENTS, POLES AND OTHER GEAR IN ORDER TO MOVE FASTER. THEY THEN FORDED THE WEST FORK OF THE TRINITY RIVER AND CROSSED NEAR THIS SITE MID-DAY ON JULY 26, 1841. THE MEN ENDURED HARDSHIPS AND DELAYS FURTHER WEST, AND WERE CAPTURED IN THE FALL BEFORE REACHING SANTA FE. THEY WERE MARCHED TO MEXICO CITY AND IMPRISONED. MOST WERE FINALLY RELEASED IN APRIL 1842. ONE OF THE GUIDES WHO SURVIVED THIS EXPEDITION WAS COLONEL WILLIAM HUDSON HUNT. ON RETURNING TO TEXAS, HE TOOK UP HIS SURVEYING PROFESSION. HE SETTLED IN WISE COUNTY, WHERE ON THE SANTA FE EXPEDITION HE HAD OBSERVED THE REGION’S RANCHING POTENTIAL. HIS RANCH, CALLED CACTUS HILL, NOW LIES UNDER THE WATERS OF LAKE BRIDGEPORT. COL. HUNT BECAME A RESPECTED COMMUNITY LEADER AND IN 1859, HE AND OTHERS REQUESTED A REROUTING OF BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND MAIL STAGES TO THE SOUTH FROM COOKE COUNTY TO DECATUR AND THEN WEST TO JACKSBORO AND ON TO SAN FRANCISCO. THE REROUTING LED TO BRIDGING AND FERRYING ACTIVITIES FOR STAGECOACHES AND FREIGHT WAGONS AT THIS TRINITY RIVER CROSSING, RESULTING IN THE CREATION OF THE TOWN OF BRIDGEPORT IN 1860.

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Bridgeport, TX

1860

Bridgeport is on State Highway 114 eight miles west of Decatur and two miles east of Lake Bridgeport in western Wise County. It originated in February 1860 when a group organized by William H. Hunt secured a charter from the West Fork Bridge Company to build a bridge across the West Fork of the Trinity River. The bridge was to be part of the Butterfield Overland Mail route. Pierce Woodward suggested the name. A year later, however, the Civil War began, the mail route was abandoned, and the wooden bridge collapsed. Bridgeport remained a small, rural community until 1873, when a new iron bridge was constructed for transporting supplies from Decatur to Fort Richardson. In May of that year a post office was established. In the 1880s coal was discovered near the town, and for the next forty years the Wise County Coal Company was one of the state's chief producers of bituminous coal. Competition from oil and gas forced the coal mines to close in 1929. In 1893, when Rock Island tracks reached within two miles of Bridgeport, the town moved a mile east to take advantage of the rail line. The railroad established Bridgeport as an retail center for area cattle ranchers and dairy farmers. The town incorporated in 1913 and in 1920 had a population of 1,872. By the end of the decade Bridgeport was producing crushed stone for road construction and was the site of a brick factory. The completion of Lake Bridgeport in 1931 further diversified the economy; Bridgeport became a tourist center for visitors to the lake. The population of Bridgeport grew steadily after the 1920s and surpassed 2,000 in the mid-1950s. In 1986 it had an estimated 3,737 residents and 153 businesses and was the second largest town in Wise County. In 1990 the population was 3,581, and in 2000 it was 4,309.

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Lake Bridgeport

1931

Lake Bridgeport, formerly known as Bridgeport Reservoir, is on the West Fork of the Trinity River in the Trinity River basin five miles west of Bridgeport in western Wise County (at 33°13' N, 97°52' W). The project is owned and operated by the Tarrant County Water Control and Improvement District Number 1. Lake Bridgeport was built for the proposed Trinity River canalization plan and was completed in December 1931 at an estimated cost of $2 million. In conjunction with Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth, Lake Bridgeport controls the floodwaters of the West Fork of the Trinity River. The lake is 1,850 feet long and was designed primarily for flood control, water storage, and recreation. The crest of the spillway is 826.2 feet above mean sea level. The lake has a conservation storage capacity of 270,900 acre-feet and covers a surface area of 10,400 acres. The drainage area above the dam is 1,111 square miles. Water stored in the lake is used for municipal, industrial, and agricultural purposes. Construction of the dam helped prevent seasonal flooding of rich farmland in western Wise County and stimulated land development along the lakeshores, including the communities of Lakevue Estates, Lake Bridgeport, and Runaway Bay. Marinas, excellent fishing, and lakeside parks have transformed nearby Bridgeport into a prosperous commercial and resort community. The terrain surrounding the lake is characterized by resistant ledges and low cuestas with shallow, stony soils. Vegetation consists primarily of live oak, juniper, and grasses.

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Bridgeport, Texas

Music in Bridgeport

Songs About Bridgeport

Artists From Bridgeport

Rivers & Roads in Song near Bridgeport

History of Bridgeport

The Town That Moved to Coal City RoadyGoat

Five Hundred Miners, and the Slow End of Coal RoadyGoat

Stagecoaches and a Lake RoadyGoat

Mexican Americans and Repatriation

Hunt, Col. William Hudson

Bridgeport Coal Mines

Republic of Texas' Santa Fe Expedition in Wise County

Bridgeport, TX

Lake Bridgeport

Things to Do in Bridgeport

Everything Near Bridgeport