The Bridge

The Old Gibbons Creek bridge, an early 20th century steel-truss bridge nicknamed by local residents the “Shanghai Springs Bridge,” once stood a few miles away down the old County Road 190 toward Piedmont where it forded Gibbons Creek. Abandoned in the late 1970s, it was moved and restored in 2009 and now provides a scenic connection to the farming operations and the event venue as well as a favorite photo backdrop.  The antique truss bridge currently stands next to the location of its sister bridge that originally forded Rock Lake Creek.

Grimes County rerouted the original Rock Lake Creek bridge and portions of County Road 192 in the 1980s as the rock-bottomed creek was dammed up and flooded  to serve as a holding pond for the Texas Municipal Power Agency. In the 1990s, Grimes County added the linking County Road 192 around the current perimeter of Rock Lake Ranch and reestablished it as a regional road, connecting Texas Highway 30 with County Road 190.

Today, our Rock Lake Ranch bridge serves as a focal point of antique ambiance.  It is observable from most of our Event Center Facilities which overlook the pond, originally Rock Lake Creek, which the ranch was named for.