Votes Win Bridge City Now

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 The Penny Record Vol. 61 No. 6 Distributed FREE To The Citizens of Bridge City and Orangefield 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 health planning guidance” ‘Yes’ votes win Bridge City 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- Election to incorporate succeeds 50 years ago this week the school plans – like those VID-19, a pandemic unlike for reopening the Texas any seen before. MARK DUNN economy – are subject to “We are planners,” Brister For The Record change along with the COV- said. “A lot of time, we’ll have Caught in the crossfire of ID-19 infection rate. the next school year planned annexation, a community- “Not that it wasn’t helpful, in March. conscious group of citizens but there was no ground- “This is definitely a chal- in 1970 initiated a move- breaking information to lenge for us. And for parents ment to incorporate the share,” one area schools su- as well.” town of Bridge City. July 7 marks the 50th anniversary of their success. Mayor Rutledge By the late 1960s, the town of Bridge City’s young infrastructure had taken strong on BC’s root. In a healthy economic environment the thriving community boasted a Class 3A State Football Champi- future, past onship, a Chamber of Com- merce, a Little League, a DAVE ROGERS hometown newspaper and For The Record about 6,000 inhabitants. Port Arthur and Orange David Rutledge wasn’t became embroiled in legal On Sept. 22, 1970, Bridge City held it’s first city election. Preston M. “Red” Wood narrowly edged born in Bridge City. But the squabbles that centered pri- out Jay Eshbach by three votes to become Bridge City’s first mayor. Seen with the new mayor fifth-year mayor got here as marily over tax revenue are Jo Bernard, Gay Bell, Mayor Wood and Chris Heath. fast as he could. generated by the Gulf States the Neches River in Orange Cow Bayou and land as far middle. Through Texas ex- “My family moved here Utilities power plant locat- County strategically taking as north Sabine Lake to traterritorial law, Port Ar- from Orange in 1960, when I ed near the town. The two in the Gulf States plant. The benefit from future indus- thur and Orange both made was 7 years old,” he recalled municipalities made con- following year Orange trial development. demands on Gulf States in an interview Tuesday flicting land claims. In 1959 planned annexation beyond The small town of Bridge Utilities Company for un- morning. Port Arthur claimed terri- the mouth of the Sabine City and its adjoining marsh In 1960, Bridge City, the tory on the eastern shore of River including the inlet of lands were caught in the ‘YES’ VOTES Page 3A 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. over the Neches River and After graduating from Named for its bridges the Cow Bayou Swing Bridge. Bridge City High School, But the school district was Rutledge worked construc- named Bridge City and so tion and was seriously in- were its schools, er school. jured on the job. He later re- Bridge City turns 50 “When I first got here, turned to the workforce at there was only one school DuPont’s Sabine River MARK DUNN Historic Bridge of Texas by building for everybody, lo- Works and retired from that For The Record the Texas Historic Com- cated where the existing job. mission. It remains as one high school is, but in a dif- Currently, Rutledge is Fifty years ago this week of just two bridges of it’s ferent building,” Rutledge working at Neches Engi- citizens of the growing kind in Texas. said. “Texas Avenue was a neers in Beaumont and plan- community known for de- Bridge City was named two-lane street, and there ning to retire from that job cades as Bridge City voted for it’s bridges. Two of them, were a lot fewer businesses later this year. to officially become a mu- the monolithic 1938 Port along Texas Avenue.” He and his wife, Becky, nicipality. The election to Arthur-Orange Bridge, lat- In 1970, Bridge City was have raised three daughters incorporate was won by a er renamed Rainbow Bridge, incorporated as a city. On who have, in turn, given the slim majority and on July and the Cow Bayou Bridge the 50th anniversary, the couple five grandchildren. 13, 1970 the declaration was crossing the bayou south of mayor didn’t have a lot of Becky is a longtime Bridge approved- the City of Bridge the highway through Or- first-hand memories of the City ISD board member. Da- City was born. angefield. When completed occasion, however. vid first got involved with But Bridge City as we both bridges provided mo- “I was going into my se- city government in the late know it today would not ex- torists a straight shot be- nior year in high school and 1990s, “when I served on the ist had it not been for the tween Port Arthur and Or- I was worried about all sorts parks commission,” he re- 1939 construction of a two ange on the newly paved of stuff but that,” he said. called. lane, electronically powered SH-87, nicknamed the “Hug “I do remember that in In 2005, he was appointed steel I-beam swing bridge The Coast Highway” going 1970, when the vote was go- to fill a vacancy on city crossing Cow Bayou. The down to Galveston along ing to be taken, there was council. pre-WWII era “Cow Bayou the gulf shoreline. some arguing going on. But “We just both have a de- Bridge” would change ev- Years earlier Orange as a senior in high school, sire to give back to the com- erything. County citizens had sought that’s not something you munity everything we can,” At it’s crossing a city highway improvements think about.” he said. “This is one way we would grow and with it the from the State Highway Rutledge has seen the pop- could do it, serving in public school district, commerce Commission. In 1936 a del- ulation of Bridge City in- office.” and eventually be named to egation led by D.E. Roach, On April 2, 1941 an estimated 3,000 people attended the ribbon crease from 6,000 to 8,000 Because of term limits, the National Register of cutting performed by Miriam David, the young niece of Julian Historic Places by the Na- NAMED FOR Page2A David the president of the Orange Chamber of Commerce. while the school district has BC MAYOR Page 3A expanded from one building tional Parks Service and a 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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