This morning, Saturday, August 2nd, 2025 was the first gathering of the "Coffee on the Bridge" group following the July 5th flood, which washed away the 1907 "Rusty Bridge".

     Not knowing what to expect in the way of attendance at our new endeavor, "Coffee on the Porch", I was pleased to see it well attended, by those who loved the Old Bridge. I heard positive attitudes expressed toward what the future holds for the community and the "Friends of Joppa Community". Seems that there is a positive outlook for the Joppa Community, which will not only benefit those here, but those throughout Burnet County as well. Stay tuned.

     After "Coffee on the Porch" was concluded this morning, some visitors from Copperas Cove stopped by asking about the bridge and also expressing that they wish there was something like "Coffee on the Porch" over there way. Perhaps we live at a time where there is a need for simple, positive associations with one another, without drama and conflict.

     See you next month. First Saturday of the month ~ Delbert Cain, August 2, 2025

                    Remembering Old Joppa Bridge

See Personal Recollections below...    please send your stories to Toni

How important is an old 1907 rusty iron bridge in an out of the way place in Burnet County?

     To some it’s a big part of their childhood memories. Memories of a lifestyle that produced life-long memories. Memories and recollections of family, friends, gatherings on or near the bridge. A simple time when people were eager to spend time together. A simple life of what is really important. 

As in the simple, peaceful life Jesus lived. A life that gives life.

      Thousands of individuals have used, crossed over, fished off of, taken “ownership” and connected their lives to that old rusty Joppa bridge that crosses over the North San Gabriel River. It sits a few miles down river from where the first settlers (the Webster party) attempted to settle on a league and a labor of land in 1839, sixty-eight years prior to the bridge being built in 1907. The Webster party was prohibited from settling on their land at the time, due to 300 Comanches who were camped there.

      Will the new concrete bridge, beside it, produce memories and be just as important to Burnet County residents? Or just be something to drive on to cross the river for convenience. It’s needed in a practical way but the old iron bridge is needed in another way. Together, side by side, both connect the past and the present. 

     The “old rusty iron bridge” speaks of life lived, the new concrete bridge speaks of convenience. Both needed. One important enough to become a state historic site in 2017, but then had to be closed by the county due to needed repairs.

Let’s open it, create a small out of the way 'Iron Bridge Park' and rebound the memories and stories. Let’s take ownership and pass it on. Time along with the stories are slipping by.

~ Delbert Cain, December 2022

I wish we knew all the memories and could record what the Bridge meant to them.

• Like the near ninety-year-old county resident who as a boy, in the 1930’s fished along with his Dad near the bridge. 
• Or an individual as a young girl saw the flood waters of 1957 cover the floor of the bridge. 
• The young senior high school girls who took photos on the bridge in their prom dresses. 
• A young boy who put a note in a bottle, threw it off the bridge and it was found near Georgetown. 
• A Burnet couple, who, surrounded by their family, married on the bridge in 2016
•  A young man from Kansas who in 2022 proposed to a young Burnet County woman on that bridge.  Then both families stood together and had their photo taken on that old rusty bridge. One family from Kansas and the other from Burnet County. The couple will live in Kansas and raise their family there. When telling their life story to their children it will include that “old rusty bridge” and be important to the future. 
• The BCISD stopped letting the school buses cross over the old bridge in the early 1990s.  
• "The first time I ever kissed my future wife was on Old Joppa Bridge" (1997)
• A couple from Briggs would pull their hayride rig, from Briggs to Joppa Bridge, filled with revellers of all ages

All true stories, but only a few of the hundreds that could be told. Each one important 

When they revisit the old bridge years from now (and they will), what will they find? A pile of rusty iron or a bridge full of stories, important to all and still producing stories and fond memories of lives lived.

- D. Cain, Dec 2022

pls send your personal stories and photos to toni.schmid@gmail.com to be shared on this page

• to become a state historic site in 2017
• for community volunteers to decorate it with lights for Christmas. 
• to have “Coffee on the Bridge” once a month with others from the community. 
• for young history teachers, one from San Saba the other from Kerrville to visit both iron bridges and go back to teach what they learned. 
• for non-residents to stop, visit and read the historic marker after discovering this out of the way bridge. 
• for a family to bring their children to it to throw rocks in the water, look at the turtles, fish and be in a quiet, tree covered place for a little while. 
• for twenty-nine individuals to gather on the bridge recently to sing Christmas carols. 
• for a mother and her young children who sat out on the bridge under the Christmas lights to share a carton of Blue Bell ice cream. 
• for a family who took hot chocolate to enjoy under the Christmas lights on a cold, crisp, quiet night in December. 
• for a young woman in 2011 who chose to be baptized in the water below the bridge while around twenty people watched from the bridge above. 
• for a young man to choose Joppa Bridge for a Proposal of Marriage to his beloved
• for couples to exchange their Marriage Vows on the bridge. 
• for neighbors to be struck with shock & sorrow when it was swept away in the July 2025 flood
• to be held forever in our hearts, and never forgotten ...

~ D. Cain, Dec 2022

Delbert's purpose for writing the content above:

• To express the importance of the old bridge.
• To promote life and what’s important.
• To preserve history.
• To continue the memories & stories going forward for future generations
• To create “ownership” by the people/residents.

*** PLEASE *** If you have past, recent, or way way in the past, memories, stories & photos on and near the “old bridge” you’d like to share, send them to:

ourjoppacommunity@outlook.com and toni.schmid@gmail.com     

With your permission, we will add them to the Memories Section on this page