
The Piano Bridge Near Dubina
Piano Bridge Road, Dubina, Texas, USA
June 25, 2010, 11:30 am
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© 2010 J Pat Marse, All Rights Reserved.
Caption
This fine old bridge was built in 1885 by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Called the "Piano Bridge," some say the name is derived from the sound made while driving over it, while technically it is due to the piano-wire truss design. It is located near Dubina on Piano Bridge Road 0.6 mile from the Saints Cyril and Methodius Church, one of the noted Painted Churches of Texas.Dubina, the first Czech settlement in Texas, is five miles northeast of Schulenburg in southern Fayette County. In November 1856 a group of Czech settlers found shelter from a strong north wind and hail under a grove of large oak trees in what is now Dubina.
Dubina is a Bohemian name, meaning "oak grove" in English. By 1900 the farming community had erected a church building, mill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, store, and post office. A 1909 storm and a 1912 fire caused extensive damage from which the town never recovered. As the first settlement in Texas to be founded entirely by Czech-Moravians, Dubina remains an important part of the state's regional and cultural history.