Today, one can travel Hwy 75 on two bridges that cross the Red River.  One for traffic in each direction - and both are free. The situation was quite different for many years until the Red River Free Bridge War.

The first means of crossing the Red River to and from Texas and Oklahoma was by ferry service.  Later the Red River Bridge Company operated a toll bridge used by wagons and automobiles.

The Red River Bridge Company was started by W. B. Munson Sr., of Denison, and B. F. Colbert who held the Colbert bridge and ferry franchise after the first wooden bridge structure washed away in 1876.  The new toll bridge that the Red River Bridge Company constructed served the area until the flood of 1908 when it was washed away.  Also destroyed in the
flood of 1908 was the Katy Railroad  bridge located farther west.  With the increase of automobile traffic, the tolls collected created a profitable business for the bridge owners.  The toll was $1 for a two-horse wagon; $1.25 for a four-horse wagon; $1.50 for a six-horse wagon; 25 cents for a man and horse; 10 cents a head for loose cattle or horses.

Mounting agitation grew for a free crossing gained momentum in the late 1920's.  The span owners were not happy with
the free bridge controversy.  A prominent spokesman for a free bridge was Hal Collins, owner of the Ford agency at that time. With the movement gaining momentum, Senator Jake J. Loy oversaw through the Legislature a free bridge bill which allowed the State Highway Department to make a settlement with the bridge owners.

A  new free bridge (now the southbound lane of Hwy 75) was authorized under a $239,239 contract with the Southwest
L. E. Myers Co. Construction started May 14, 1930 and the free span was a special feature of the county's first concrete highway system voted in 1929.

The new free bridge was completed in April, 1931. However, the use of it was blocked by an federal court injunction obtained by the Red River Bridge Company.  The grounds for the injunction were that the state Highway Department had not fulfilled its settlement with the company.  The terms of the contract included a $60,000 payment for the bridge and $10,000 per month for fourteen months to cover the Red River Bridge Company's loss of revenue.  A $1 charge per crossings was being levied by the toll bridge operators; one-way tolls were 75 cents.  As part of the agreement, they had asked for the right to increase tolls until the free bridge opened. The new free bridge sat idle three months later due to a legal entanglement.  Large signs were placed at each end of the bridge stating that the bridge was closed by court order.

Mid-afternoon on July 18, 1931, Oklahoma Governor Alfalfa Bill Murray ordered his "shock troops," a highway department crew, to plow up the Oklahoma approach to the toll bridge and remove the new span barricades allowing traffic to move across the new free bridge.  Traffic was directed to the bridge at Preston, 30 miles away. Word spread and a string of cars crossed the free bridge way into the night.


The next morning at sunrise, a detachment of Texas Rangers were encamped on the Texas side under the command of Capt. Tom Hickman.  Governor Murray quickly sent an Oklahoma National Guard force to block the north end of the free bridge.  Now no one could cross the bridge.

The bridge war was widely publicized, even in Europe.  At one time Hitler's Nazis use a picture of the guarded Red River
as propaganda proof that a civil war rocked the United States.

On July 23, a bill passed in the Texas Legislature granting the toll bridge company the right to sue the state to recover its losses. On July 25, 1931, the court injunction was dissolved and the free bridge opened with a continuous flow to this date.  On August 6, 1931, the Texas injunction was completely dissolved and the Oklahoma guardsmen were pulled out.

The toll bridge was now owned by the State of Texas.  It was used as a south-bound span for Hwy. 75 for several years.  Even though the old bridge grew more and more hazardous, traffic continued to use it for a shorter route to the stores
and businesses in downtown Denison.  The bridge was finally blocked in 1958.  On May 31, 1961 the old toll bridge caught fire. It was demolished in 1995.

source: Red River Bridge War; stories by Claud E. Easterly, Edward Southerland and Kenneth R. Jones