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

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…