Four railroad viaducts, all with concrete piers and steel spans, designed to pass over on-grade automobile roads. The Bessie-Vickery overpass consists of two viaducts constructed at different times. The south (Bessie) viaduct was erected in 1910 by the International & Great Northern Railroad. The north (Vickery) viaduct was financed with federal emergency relief funds administered through the Texas State Highway Dept., and built in 1937. The parallel viaducts on E. Rosedale Street were both constructed in 1910 as a joint project of the Houston & Texas Central, Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe, and Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroads. All four viaducts are included in a National Register Thematic District comprised of railroad-related structures in the Southside. A Thematic Nomination, now referred to as a Multiple Property Submission, would still appear to be a viable option for listing such resources. However the East Rosedale Street viaducts were all demolished for the widening of the street. Because they were eligible for the National Register, the mitigation for their loss included the preparation of a detailed history of each structure. These histories were submitted to the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), National Park Service, and deposited in the Library of Congress. These histories revealed that the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe viaduct was replaced in 1936 by the railway company and the West Texas Construction Company of Fort Worth and fabricated by the Virginia Bridge and Iron Company, Roanoke, Virginia. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas structure was altered in 1936. The Houston and Texas central structure was altered at an unknown date.
