"Buffalo Springs, Chickasaw National Recreation Area, 2015." by U.S. National Park Service , public domain
Big ThicketThe Lincoln Bridge |
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Chickasaw
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Chickasaw National Recreation Area
The Lincoln Bridge
Each day, hundreds of visitors pass through the park on highway 177; unnoticed
by most of them, and hidden in the trees lining the banks of Travertine Creek is
the Lincoln Bridge. Constructed in 1909, this stone bridge connects the Flower
Park area and the city of Sulphur to the mineral springs south of Travertine Creek.
The bridge is the first and oldest developed structure built in the park. For over
one hundred years the Lincoln Bridge has been a park landmark and a treasured
part of the landscape, bridging not only the creek, but the park’s past, present,
and future.
Turning a town
into a park
From 1906 until 1976, the present-day Platt
Historic District was known as Platt National
Park. Established as the Sulphur Springs
Reservation in 1902 to protect mineral springs
and water resources, the park evolved from a
settlement and town site into a national park.
Prior to the establishment of the park, the
community of Sulphur was located around the
mineral springs; following the park’s creation the
town was forced to relocate to the north. This
development required almost equal amounts of
obliteration and construction of buildings, roads,
and other features.
The new town was connected to the springs in
the new park by rickety wooden bridges and
muddy fords. As additional visitors flocked to the
mineral springs of Platt National Park, it soon
became clear that a new way was needed to move
people across Rock Creek and Travertine Creek
to the site of Pavilion Springs. In the fall of 1908
Park Superintendent Albert Greene received
permission from the Secretary of the Interior to
solicit bids for a new foot bridge across Travertine
Creek.
It Will “Doubtless Stand
for Ages”
Superintendent Greene awarded the task of
constructing the bridge in the end of November
1908 to the firm of Liberenz & Robinson. Work
began immediately on the rock arch Gothic
Revival structure and was nearly complete by the
end of January 1909. Construction of the bridge
was finished on February 11, 1909 and formally
dedicated the next day. The Lincoln Bridge was
the first permanent improvement in the park.
The arch, capable of sustaining any weight,
spanning the stream; the four turrets at the
corners, with battlement summits, surmounted
with metal flag-staffs; the eight electric lights
along the parapets; the rugged construction
of the stone work, without mark of hammer
or stroke of trowel to embellish; the paved
roadway leading on the one hand to a great
highway congested with travel, and on the
other by sodded slopes to shady retreats along
the noisy brook, unite to form, in symmetrical
proportions, a feature of utility and beauty
that shall be an object lesson of the stability
and dignity of the general government, forever
stimulating patriotism and a pride of country. It
is not a thing apart - it is as if it had grown there
and been made when the rugged banks of the
stream and the trees were made.
Predicting that the bridge, “will doubtless stand
for ages,” Superintendent Greene eloquently
described the newly completed bridge in his
monthly report to the Secretary of the Interior:
Postcard image of the Lincoln
Bridge, shortly after completion,
1909.
As this is the first permanent improvement in
the park, I may be permitted to refer briefly to
its most prominent and picturesque features.
E X P E R I E N C E Y O U R A M E R I C A™
Dedicating a Park
Landmark
Postcard image of the Lincoln
Bridge, circa 1920.
Lincoln’s Legacy
The dedication of the Lincoln Bridge took place
on February 12, 1909, the centennial of the birth
of President Abraham Lincoln. The ceremony was
conducted with much fanfare. In a report to the
Secretary of the Interior, Superintendent Greene
reported:
On February 12, 1909, the opening of the bridge
was celebrated by a concourse of the citizens of
Su1phur and visitors to the Park. The exercises
consisted of the singing of patriotic airs, reading
of Lincoln’s Gettysburg oration...addresses by
Mayor Kendall for the Confederate veterans;
In 1909, Sulphur, Oklahoma, and the new
park honored President Abraham Lincoln’s
contributions to our nation by naming the new
bridge the “Lincoln Bridge.”
Sulphur was not unique. Communities across the
country remembered Lincoln’s contributions in
1909 and in the years since. Lincoln’s legacy can
be found almost anywhere. He is remembered in
music, poetry, sculpture. We see his face every day
on coins and currency. Towns, roads, and schools
bear his name.
Rev. Clark on the life and times of Lincoln; and
the Superintendent on personal reminiscences
of Lincoln as a neighbor and friend...Mrs. Lucy
M. Bennett wearing a dress of materials bought
of Lincoln when a storekeeper in Salem, and
patterned after the style of that period, climbed
to the top of a turret and broke a wine bottle of
medicinal water from the wall, christening the
structure, “THE LINCOLN BRIDGE”.
The bridge rapidly became a favorite scenic
spot within the park, confirmed by the multiple
postcard views taken of it in the early Twentieth
century.
Today, Abraham Lincoln symbolizes freedom and
equality for Americans. President Lincoln fought
to unite our nation during the Civil War and is
honored for the ultimate sacrifice he gave to our
nation, his life. We celebrate the Emancipation
Proclamation, a document that ensured that all
Americans were free. We recite the Gettysburg
Address, perhaps the most famous oration ever
given. His works are set in stone in American
memory.
The Survivor
A generation after the establishment of the park,
the Great Depression brought great change. A
Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located
in the park, and two hundred young men
worked from 1933 through 1940 on all manner
of improvements: roads, trails, restrooms, and
campgrounds. These work projects entirely
rebuilt Platt National Park from boundary to
boundary. Many of the older spring pavilions
and structures were demolished to make way for
new improvements at that time. Rustic buildings,
swimming holes, and picnic areas, remain today as
a testament to their work.
Given that the Lincoln Bridge is situated only a
short distance away from the Travertine Creek
highway bridge built during the 1930s, it seems
remarkable that the Lincoln Bridge survived
through the redesign of the park. Not only did
the bridge last, but it was incorporated into the
entirely new landscape design of the adjacent
Flower Park area.
A Bridge to the Future
Over one hundred years after its construction,
the Lincoln Bridge has fulfilled the dream of
its builders, standing solidly and silently, still
connecting the town to the mineral springs whose
presence led to the creation of the park.
On summer holidays, the park flies 46-star
American Flags over the bridge as homage to
the early years of the park and Oklahoma’s
distinction as the forty-sixth state.
In February of 2009, park staff and members of
the community gathered to mark the centennial of
the bridge and the bicentennial of its namesake.
Like a century before, school children read the
Gettysburg Address, and a replacement dedication
plaque was placed on the southeast turret.
E X P E R I E N C E Y O U R A M E R I C A™
Unnoticed by some, beloved by others,
the Lincoln Bridge has met and exceeded
Superintendent Greene’s prediction that the
bridge would “doubtless stand for the ages.”
Produced by the Division of Interpretation; July 2010
Written by Park Rangers Eric Leonard and Lauren Gurniewicz