Moore's Crossing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moore's Crossing Historic District
(U.S. Registered Historic District)
The bridge at Moore's Crossing
Location:	Roughly bounded by FM 973, Moores Bridge Road and Onion Creek. Austin, Texas, USA
Coordinates:	30°10′5″N 97°39′43″W / 30.16806, -97.66194Coordinates: 30°10′5″N 97°39′43″W / 30.16806, -97.66194
Added to NRHP:	October 16, 1996
NRHP Reference#:	96001091
MPS:	Southeast Travis County MPS

Moore's Crossing is a historic community southeast of Austin, Texas, near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The area was settled in the 1840s near a low-water crossing for Onion Creek. It was named after John B. Moore, who opened a store at the site in the early 20th century.

In 1915, three of six spans from the 1884 iron Congress Avenue Bridge, which had been put into storage in 1910, were used to construct a bridge at Moore's Crossing (formerly Onion Creek Bridge). The bridge was washed away by a spring flood that year.

The current bridge, built by the Austin Bridge Company of Dallas is comprised of concrete piers and the remaining three spans from the Congress Avenue Bridge. It was completed in 1922 and took Burleson Road across Onion Creek to Farm to Market Road 973.

On January 8, 1980, the bridge was "finally put to rest" after nearly 97 years. Richard Moya, Travis County Commissioner Precinct 4, stated the bridge would be closed because it could collapse. The concrete under the abutments had failed. The estimate to stabilize the one-lane bridge for traffic was $750,000 and that did not include widening it to support the increased traffic caused by area growth. A four-lane concrete beam bridge with a different alignment to Farm to Market Road 973 was built instead. The county barricaded the bridge at Moore's Crossing and turned it into a pedestrian bridge.

The bridge was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1980.

The community was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 16, 1996.