{"nrhp_refnum":"79003020","name":"Riverside Swinging Bridge","other_names":["Y"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"NE of Riverside","address_restricted":false,"city":"Riverside","county":"Walker County","state":"TX","lat":30.857469558000048,"lon":-95.39628942499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-09-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Engineering","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 150-foot steel Pratt-truss railroad swing bridge crossing the Trinity River (now part of Lake Livingston) about three-quarters of a mile northeast of Riverside, in Walker and Trinity Counties, Texas, built in 1904 by the International and Great Northern Railroad.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the bridge is significant as the last swinging railroad bridge in Texas. It was built with a central pivot so it could swing parallel to the river for steamboats, but the expected river traffic never developed. It opened only twice, and never for a boat.","narrative":"Three-quarters of a mile northeast of Riverside, Texas, a steel Pratt-truss railroad bridge 150 feet long crosses an arm of Lake Livingston, once the Trinity River. Built in 1904 by the International and Great Northern Railroad, it has two connected spans resting on a central concrete pillar. A cog on the pillar meshed with a gear under the bridge, so a hand-turned wheel could swing the structure parallel to the river. The design was meant to let steamboats pass, since river traffic was expected to resume after a proposed barge canal. The canal was never built. The bridge opened only twice, never for a boat; the last time was during the 1925 flood, to let debris pass. Concrete abutments replaced the original stone ones in 1925, and both ends were welded to stop movement. It is recognized as the last swinging railroad bridge in Texas. Missouri-Pacific took ownership in 1955 and still runs trains over it.","period_of_significance":"1904","architect_builder":"International and Great Northern Railroad","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use carrying Missouri-Pacific railroad traffic across Lake Livingston; structurally sound but in need of cleaning and painting to stop rust.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.460564-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/9738/40973898/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/79003020.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003020/a78ad1b1ac-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003020/a78ad1b1ac-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Beth4073","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riverside_Swinging_Bridge_side_view.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Beth4073</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:Riverside_Swinging_Bridge_side_view.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973898","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Swinging_Bridge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55315823"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/walker-county/riverside-swinging-bridge-79003020/"}