{"nrhp_refnum":"12001001","name":"Nolan River Bridge 303-A of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway","other_names":["Nolan River Bridge at Blum, Texas"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Cty. Rd. 1127 at Nolan R.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Blum","county":"Hill County","state":"TX","lat":32.154344543000036,"lon":-97.39377961299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-12-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-track steel plate girder railroad bridge with six spans on five limestone piers, crossing the Nolan River at the north side of Blum, Hill County, Texas. It was built in stages from 1899 to 1903 for the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway and now carries a one-lane county road.","why_significant":"The bridge carried the Santa Fe's main through traffic between Chicago and Galveston from 1903 until 1952, a strategic line in the economic development of Texas. It is also a nearly unaltered example of a plate girder bridge type that was once common and is now unusual. It is nominated under Criterion A for transportation and Criterion C for engineering, at the local level.","narrative":"Spanning the Nolan River on the north side of Blum, this six-span steel plate girder bridge rests on five rusticated limestone piers. Three of the piers date from an 1887 rebuilding of an earlier 1881 bridge, and two were added in 1900. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway replaced the older iron truss structure between 1899 and 1903 to carry heavier locomotives and to remove fire-prone timber trestle approaches. Until 1952 the bridge carried the through traffic of the Santa Fe between Chicago and Galveston, helping move Texas cotton and other goods. That year, construction of Whitney Dam led the railroad to move its line to higher ground. The bridge was transferred to Hill County, which removed the track and graded the ballast into a one-lane road. Its girders, piers, abutments and floor system remain largely unchanged, and it is valued as a well-preserved example of early twentieth-century railroad bridge engineering.","period_of_significance":"1899-1952","architect_builder":"Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Described as in sound condition and in use as a one-lane county road bridge since 1952, maintained first by the Santa Fe Railway and then by Hill County.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:24.031807-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/1/9726/40972601/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/12001001.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12001001/818d505df0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12001001/818d505df0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nolanriverbridge3.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Renelibrary</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nolanriverbridge3.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972601","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_River_Bridge_303-A_of_the_Gulf,_Colorado_and_Santa_Fe_Railway","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16162927"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/hill-county/nolan-river-bridge-303-a-of-the-gulf-colorado-and-santa-fe-railway-12001001/"}