Question: What businesswoman built the first iron bridge over the Trinity River in Dallas?
Answer: Sarah Horton Cockrell. Born in Virginia in 1819, she moved to Texas in her early twenties and married Alexander Cockrell in 1847. She and her husband started several businesses, including a construction firm, a sawmill and gristmill, and a property rental company.
In 1872, under a charter granted by the Texas Legislature, Cockrell’s Dallas Bridge Company built the first iron bridge over the Trinity River. The Civil War had delayed her efforts to secure investors until 1870. By the time of her death in 1892, she owned approximately a quarter of downtown Dallas.
