'Yes' Votes Win Bridge City

DOWN ORANGE Outdoors KAZ’S LIFE’S COUNTY HUNTING & KORNER HIGHWAY FISHING FISHING SPORTS Roy Dunn- Columnist Capt. Dickie Colburn Capt. Chuck Uzzle COMMENTARY Page 5 Section A Page 1 Section B Page 1 Section B Page 2 Section B TheRecordLive.com County Record Vol. 61 No. 6 The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas Week of Wednesday, July 8, 2020 Schools get re-opening guidance – for now DAVE ROGERS perintendent said after the According to a July 1 re- was reporting 327 Orange Texas schools are being to offer virtual learning as an For The Record hour-long videoconference. port issued by the Orange County cases as of July 7. told they must accommodate option. “We’re all inching closer to County Health Department, Worldwide, nearly 12 mil- on-campus classes and may Any parent may request “Virtual” online instruc- the start of school, but there’s there have been at least 304 lion have been infected with or may not offer virtual on- their children be offered vir- tion and on-campus “face- still a ton of time for them to confirmed COVID-19 cases 540,000 deaths. In the U.S., line computer learning as tual learning and can trans- to-face” learning will be the change the rules again and in the county, with at least 131,000 have died of the well. fer to another school if their ways to go for the state’s pub- for us to adjust.” three deaths. The Texas De- nearly 3 million confirmed School districts that hope lic primary and secondary Stacey Brister, superinten- partment of Health Services cases. to make budget are advised SCHOOLS GET Page 3A schools – all while looking to dent of Little Cypress-Mau- avoid using “pandemic time.” riceville schools, hinted at Texas schools commis- the frustration of school ad- sioner Mike Morath issued ministrators who are nor- the long-awaited “public mally taking vacations about Named for its bridges health planning guidance” now. They can’t this year, be- Tuesday for the start of the cause of uncertainty created 2020-21 school year, noting by the new coronavirus CO- the school plans – like those VID-19, a pandemic unlike for reopening the Texas any seen before. Bridge City turns 50 economy – are subject to “We are planners,” Brister change along with the COV- said. “A lot of time, we’ll have MARK DUNN Historic Bridge of Texas by ID-19 infection rate. the next school year planned For The Record the Texas Historic Com- “Not that it wasn’t helpful, in March. mission. It remains as one but there was no ground- “This is definitely a chal- Fifty years ago this week of just two bridges of it’s breaking information to lenge for us. And for parents citizens of the growing kind in Texas. share,” one area schools su- as well.” community known for de- Bridge City was named cades as Bridge City voted for it’s bridges. Two of them, to officially become a mu- the monolithic 1938 Port nicipality. The election to Arthur-Orange Bridge, lat- Mayor Rutledge incorporate was won by a er renamed Rainbow Bridge, slim majority and on July and the Cow Bayou Bridge 13, 1970 the declaration was crossing the bayou south of strong on BC’s approved- the City of Bridge the highway through Or- City was born. angefield. When completed But Bridge City as we both bridges provided mo- know it today would not ex- torists a straight shot be- future, past ist had it not been for the tween Port Arthur and Or- 1939 construction of a two ange on the newly paved DAVE ROGERS lane, electronically powered SH-87, nicknamed the “Hug For The Record steel I-beam swing bridge The Coast Highway” going crossing Cow Bayou. The down to Galveston along David Rutledge wasn’t pre-WWII era “Cow Bayou the gulf shoreline. born in Bridge City. But the Bridge” would change ev- Years earlier Orange fifth-year mayor got here as erything. County citizens had sought fast as he could. At it’s crossing a city highway improvements “My family moved here would grow and with it the from the State Highway from Orange in 1960, when I school district, commerce Commission. In 1936 a del- was 7 years old,” he recalled and eventually be named to egation led by D.E. Roach, in an interview Tuesday On April 2, 1941 an estimated 3,000 people attended the ribbon the National Register of cutting performed by Miriam David, the young niece of Julian morning. Historic Places by the Na- NAMED FOR Page2A David the president of the Orange Chamber of Commerce. In 1960, Bridge City, the tional Parks Service and a city, didn’t officially exist. The unincorporated area Bridge City Mayoer had earned that nickname David Rutledge because of its location be- to four modern campuses tween the Rainbow Bridge with 3,000 students. ‘Yes’ votes win Bridge City over the Neches River and After graduating from the Cow Bayou Swing Bridge. Bridge City High School, But the school district was Rutledge worked construc- Election to incorporate succeeds 50 years ago this week named Bridge City and so tion and was seriously in- were its schools, er school. jured on the job. He later re- MARK DUNN “When I first got here, turned to the workforce at For The Record there was only one school DuPont’s Sabine River Caught in the crossfire of building for everybody, lo- Works and retired from that annexation, a community- cated where the existing job. conscious group of citizens high school is, but in a dif- Currently, Rutledge is in 1970 initiated a move- ferent building,” Rutledge working at Neches Engi- ment to incorporate the said. “Texas Avenue was a neers in Beaumont and plan- town of Bridge City. July 7 two-lane street, and there ning to retire from that job marks the 50th anniversary were a lot fewer businesses later this year. of their success. along Texas Avenue.” He and his wife, Becky, By the late 1960s, the In 1970, Bridge City was have raised three daughters town of Bridge City’s young incorporated as a city. On who have, in turn, given the infrastructure had taken the 50th anniversary, the couple five grandchildren. root. In a healthy economic mayor didn’t have a lot of Becky is a longtime Bridge environment the thriving first-hand memories of the City ISD board member. Da- community boasted a Class occasion, however. vid first got involved with 3A State Football Champi- “I was going into my se- city government in the late onship, a Chamber of Com- nior year in high school and 1990s, “when I served on the merce, a Little League, a I was worried about all sorts parks commission,” he re- hometown newspaper and of stuff but that,” he said. called. about 6,000 inhabitants. “I do remember that in In 2005, he was appointed Port Arthur and Orange 1970, when the vote was go- to fill a vacancy on city became embroiled in legal On Sept. 22, 1970, Bridge City held it’s first city election. Preston M. “Red” Wood narrowly edged ing to be taken, there was council. squabbles that centered pri- out Jay Eshbach by three votes to become Bridge City’s first mayor. Seen with the new mayor some arguing going on. But “We just both have a de- marily over tax revenue are Jo Bernard, Gay Bell, Mayor Wood and Chris Heath. as a senior in high school, sire to give back to the com- generated by the Gulf States the Neches River in Orange Cow Bayou and land as far middle. Through Texas ex- that’s not something you munity everything we can,” Utilities power plant locat- County strategically taking as north Sabine Lake to traterritorial law, Port Ar- think about.” he said. “This is one way we ed near the town. The two in the Gulf States plant. The benefit from future indus- thur and Orange both made Rutledge has seen the pop- could do it, serving in public municipalities made con- following year Orange trial development. demands on Gulf States ulation of Bridge City in- office.” flicting land claims. In 1959 planned annexation beyond The small town of Bridge Utilities Company for un- crease from 6,000 to 8,000 Because of term limits, Port Arthur claimed terri- the mouth of the Sabine City and its adjoining marsh while the school district has BC MAYOR Page 3A tory on the eastern shore of River including the inlet of lands were caught in the ‘YES’ VOTES Page 3A expanded from one building CMYK 2A • The Record • Week of Wednesday,July 08, 2020 particularly important that Named for it’s bridges From Page 1 we consider all options for its preservation. The mechani- cal sophistication of the bridge adds to its signifi- cance.” Seven years later a small group of Bridge City citizens met to become a collective voice for the Cow Bayou Swing Bridge and to initiate the process for nominating it to the National Register of Historic Places. The group drew the attention of the Historic Bridge Foundation, County Judges of Beaumont and Orange, Charles Howell and F. a national advocate for the W. Hustmyre respectively, were speakers during the 1941 dedica- preservation of historic tion ceremony for the Cow Bayou Bridge. bridges, who wrote a letter to the Bridge City Citizens for Historic Preservation in sup- port of their efforts. The Na- tional Register of Historic Places is a federal program administered by the Texas Historical Commission in The Bengal Guards of Orange and the Red Hussars of Port Arthur, musical marching bands from the coordination with the Na- two high schools, marched towards the Cow Bayou Bridge from opposite directions and met in the tional Park Service.

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