Railroads to highways

history of key avenue -- part 2

  • This photo was taken during the last days of the Chestnut Street bridge. It was closed to traffic in 1952. file photo | lampasas dispatch record
    This photo was taken during the last days of the Chestnut Street bridge. It was closed to traffic in 1952. file photo | lampasas dispatch record
  • Grand Avenue was destined to become the main artery through town, but as yet it did not link up with any of the new highway routes coming into Lampasas. Section from 1907 Sanborn Map of Lampasas | Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas
    Grand Avenue was destined to become the main artery through town, but as yet it did not link up with any of the new highway routes coming into Lampasas. Section from 1907 Sanborn Map of Lampasas | Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Lampasas historian Jeff Jackson has researched a number of local history topics. The following is part of a series on Key Avenue and the development of the highways routed through Lampasas County.

    In the 1870s and 1880s, the railroad lines were beginning to spread out across the state of Texas. Community leaders got organized, worked and campaigned to get the railroad builders to com…