BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.C.R. 11
By: Estes
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
The community of Bridgeport, Texas, started from a toll bridge crossing of the Trinity River for stagecoaches of the Overland Mail Company and the name "Bridgeport" was acquired from the bridge that portaged the stream. There is a national legislative initiative to create a national Overland Mail Company trail from Tipton, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, which will pass through Bridgeport, Texas. The city's first economy was based on the stagecoach and wagon shipping activity through Bridgeport.
Bridgeport has celebrated its unique Butterfield Stage Days for many years, and there is a long tradition in Bridgeport of using a stagecoach in at least three events annually. Bridgeport has its own Concord Stagecoach and keeps it on public display. The city uses the stagecoach as a symbol and an icon and plans events around its stagecoach heritage. The Main Street program heritage and tourist efforts in Bridgeport have been, and continue to be, centered around the stagecoach theme. Given Bridgeport's origins as a stagecoach crossing and the continuing efforts of the city to preserve this picturesque and symbolic part of its history, it is fitting that the historic connection between the stagecoach and the City of Bridgeport be duly recognized.
RESOLVED
That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas hereby designate Bridgeport as the official Stagecoach Capital of Texas.