 Old Downtown Bridgeport |
In February of 1860, Colonel William H. Hunt and Associates 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. |
 Old Bridgeport School |
 Halsell St. |
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 a retail center for area cattle ranchers and dairy farmers. Bridgeport was incorporated in 1913. |
