Dallas in 1872

Feature 3: Toll Bridge

Alexander Cockrell purchased Bryan’s town site in 1852 and replaced Bryan’s ferryboat with a wooden toll bridge over the Trinity River. The cedar bridge was destroyed in the flood of 1858, but Cockrell’s widow, Sarah, replaced the ferry and operated it with slave labor until after the Civil War, when, with hired hands, she built a new toll bridge in 1872. The bridge, which she purchased from St. Louis, is shown in the detail from the 1872 bird’s-eye view. The Cockrell house is shown from the rear in the bird’s-eye view, but may be seen from the front (at the left-hand side) in the photo of the bridge. Photograph of the bridge is from A. C. Greene, Dallas: The Deciding Years—A Historical Portrait (Austin: Encino Press, 1973), 57. Photograph of the Cockrell home is from the Dallas Historical Society.