Old US 90 Sabine Swamp Trestle
Photos
Looking West
Photo taken by Patrick Feller
License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
BH Photo #309758
Description
One mile long wooden bridge on Old US 90 in the former East Orange, Louisiana. Construction began on January 30, 1926. Opened to traffic on November 11, 1927 along with the Sabine Memorial Bridge across the Sabine River at the Texas-Louisiana state line. Bypassed as a through route when US 90 was relocated further north in 1954.The bridge was set on fire in 1973, leaving the approach to the former Sabine River bridge and the East Orange area inaccessible by land. More information and photos are available here: http://www.texasfreeway.com/Other/Louisiana/Historic/abandon... and here: http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2005-04-23_old_us_90_b...
Facts
- Overview
- Lost timber stringer bridge over Sabine River Swamp on Old US 90
- Location
- Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
- Status
- Destroyed by fire
- History
- Built in 1927; destroyed by fire in 1973
- Builder
- - W.H. Smith Jr. of Alexandria, LA (wooden pilings)
- Design
- Timber stringer
- Also called
- Burned-Out Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +30.09986, -93.69996 (decimal degrees)
30°05'59" N, 93°41'60" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/432557/3330056 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Orange
- Inventory number
- BH 47570 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- February 18, 2020: Updated by Roger Collins: Changed to name as appears in period news articles.
- April 27, 2017: Updated by Roger Collins: Added dates of existence.
- August 9, 2016: New Street View added by Dana and Kay Klein
- December 14, 2014: Photo imported by Patrick Feller
- January 8, 2011: Added by Jared Rainer
Sources
- Jared Rainer - chumrain [at] bayspringstel [dot] net
- Dana and Kay Klein
Comments
I'm looking for a recipe for Pete Aucoin's chicken sauce piquant. I'm 83, grew up in Orange, and ate at Pete's many a Sunday. And we always looked over the back railing at the alligators......in the slough or bayou or whatever it was.
Wish I could go back once....
I'm so glad for these pictures--no one I know is still living to talk with about those times.
Hey Randy... Google Earth historical imagery goes back to 1989, and as of that date, the only thing standing were all the pilons from the west to the east. Do you have any pictures you could add of the old bridge?
Glad I was looking at La. bridges on the web. I grew up in the area and fished from the bridge often before it was burnt. Not to sure of East Orange Louisiana, all this time I thought it was called Toomey. I also do not think both ends were set on fire, although its been a while but last time I was fishing from a boat the west side of the bridge was still there.
Wow, awesome find! There was also a swing bridge that crossed the Sabine River built in the 20s and removed in the 60s with the completion of I-10. I'll add it later tonight.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/la/calcasieu/bh47570/
https://imgur.com/gallery/kWUEy
There is a picture here that may suggest the extreme west end boards may not have burned.