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Unfortunately, the Texas State Historical Marker titled "Bridge at McAlister Crossing (aka: Mueller Bridge), located at the intersection of FM 539 and CR 337 in Wilson County, Texas, has been stolen. On Thursday evening, March 13th, someone backed a vehicle up to this marker, wrapped a chain (or something) around it and broke it loose from its post. They left deep tracks in the ground where they had really struggled to break the marker from its post. Our community is angered over this act of vandalism and loss, valued at sixteen hundred dollars. All of the local newspapers; La Vernia News, Wilson County News, Floresville Chronicle-Journal and the Seguin Gazette, have all run articles about the theft of the marker, along with a picture. Kens 5 TV and Channel 4, both of San Antonio, have reported the theft.
In researching the McAlister family, plus the history of the bridge, took eight years. The marker was approved by the Texas State Historical Commission in 2004 and the marker was dedicated in December 2005. In 2006, the bridge was placed on Preservation Texas' Most Endangered Places list. In October 2007, the bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Quarterly Journal of the Clan McAlister of America, Volume XVI June (Summer) 2006, No. 2, featured a story about the bridge.
The marker honored one our counties early pioneers, John Murphy McAlister, who brought his wife, Isabella McClain McAlister and children, to this area of Texas in 1851. There were 10 children in this family: Daniel, Charles, Margaret, John Murphy Jr., Mary Isabella, Amanda Jane, Louella, William, James Archibald and Susan. (Daniel was killed in the Civil War; John Jr. and Charles also served but returned to Wilson County.) Amanda, William, James and Susan never married. Margaret married William Sutherland; Charles married Ellen Glosson; John Jr. married Georgia Pittman; Mary Isabella married John Craighead & Louella married Millen McCoy.
Following is the title & text on the marker:
Bridge at McAlister Crossing (aka Mueller Bridge)
John Murphy McAlister (1807-1885) and his wife, Isabella (McClain) (1817-1872) settled in La Vernia with their family in the early 1850's. In 1857 they purchased several hundred acres of land on the southwest bank of Cibolo Creek. The natural stream crossing adjacent to their property became known as McAlister Crossing and for years served resident on both sides.
The McAlister children subdivided the land following their father's death in 1885. About the same time, county commissioners designated the local route, including the crossing, as road No 62 (present county road 337). In 1906, the Henry Mueller Family purhased land on the east side of the creek; a son would later buy land on the west side, just southwest of McAlister Crossing. In 1908, county commissioners permitted the placement of telephone poles along the road and creek crossing.
In 1915 the comissioners court contracted with the Alamo Construction Company of San Antonio to erect five bridges in the county, including one at McAlister Crossing. The most expensive of the new structures, the bridge at McAlister Crossing, completed in 1915, cost nearly $9,000. Because members of the Mueller Family owned property on either end of the bridge, it was often called Mueller Bridge.
The three-span, 252-foot Mueller Bridge at McAlister Crossing features polygonal camelback trusses with multiple panels. For over 70 years it served local residents, surviving Cibolo Creek's occasional raging waters. Closed to vehicular traffic in 1988, it remains a historic link to engineering designs of the early 20th century. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK-2004
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