Graford Sites

" was originally created from the Morris Sheppard Dam, a project of the Brazos River Authority and the Works Progress Administration. Construction was begun in 1938 and completed in 1941. The dam is 2,700 feet long and 190 feet high. The construction is unique with buttressed arched wings on either side of the nine spillway gates rather than the usual filled concrete." (Wikipedia)

The 18-span stone arch bridge, just below the Morris Shepherd dam on Lake Possum Kingdom, is the longest and most substantial masonry arch bridge in Texas. The design was chosen to withstand flood waters released from the dam a mile above the bridge. It is built from over 7,200 cubic yards of locally quarried limestone. The bridge was built by 74 skilled workers and 250 unskilled workers. Many of the stonemasons were former coal miners. Cushman said, "designers juxtaposed an ancient engineering design with a modern concrete dam to create one of the state's greatest achievements in landscape construction." The...

The Work Projects Administration constructed and improved 27.75 miles of SH 16, between Brackeen Drive and State Highway 254, and State Highway 254 in Palo Pinto County below Possum Kingdom Dam between 1940-1942. This section, the corridor from Brackeen Drive to State Highway 254, included the masonry bridge across the Brazos River, a masonry guard wall around Kimberlin Mountain, and 21 masonry culverts. Of the 21, 16 are still in original condition. The guard wall is approximately 1,800 feet long with limestone block crenellations spaced along the wall. Of the 129 original crenellations, 88 remain unaltered or undamaged and in original...