This Week in Odessa History

With the proposal for a new bridge across Crab Creek on Dobson Road announced this week, it is interesting to note that the concrete bridge on First Avenue in Odessa, in recent years considered a candidate for replacement, was planned 79 years ago this week and was actually built 78 years ago in 1934.

A new, reinforced concrete bridge was to be built, replacing a steel truss structure which had served since 1914. That bridge, in turn, had replaced the original wooden bridge across the creek in 1908. Before then, horses and wagons had to ford the stream, which then ran through Odessa the year a...