Bridge Street History Center gifted new roof

A new roof was installed by DT Roofing on the Bridge Street History Center on Wednesday, Aug. 25.

Made with South American wood, the EnduraShake roof is a low-maintenance, long-lasting fire and hail resilient product  expected to last up to 50 years or longer.

With “elegance of wood, performance of metal” according to its tagline, EnduraShake is a class IV roof.

“We’re going to be the only house in Granbury that has this roof on it,” said Maurice Walton, president of the Bridge Street History Center. “I don’t think we’ll be the last one, but we’re going to be the first one.”

The new roof was donated to the Bridge Street History Center by Clayton Posey, longtime friend and supporter of the center.

Although Posey and wife, Goldie, currently live in Wayne, Oklahoma, they have direct ties to the center through relatives of the Mitchell/Truitt Feud.

The Mitchell/Truitt Feud was a dispute between families over a purchase of land that resulted in a gun battle that left a Truitt boy dead. Nelson “Cooney” Mitchell was convicted of the murder in 1875 and was sentenced to death by hanging, which was the only legal public hanging conducted in Hood County.

The relationship between Walton and the Poseys first began when Walton’s friend, Vircy Macatee established a Mitchell family reunion in Hood County.

“She (Vircy) felt like, and I think rightfully so, that Cooney Mitchell was wrongfully hung for a crime that nobody thought he did. But that’s where our relationship with Goldie started was from Vircy,” Walton said.

Vircy had contributed greatly to the Mitchell/Truitt Feud exhibit at the Bridge Street History Center and one day, the Poseys wanted to check out her work. Once seeing the center and making a connection with Walton, Clayton graciously contributed new flooring in the archive room a few years prior, and made the recent gift of the new roof to the center.

“They just always had an interest in the History Center. Over that period of time, we’ve just maintained a connection with them, just through various aspects of the feud,” Walton said. “I can’t tell you that Clayton and Goldie are friends of the History Center. They are. But they’re much more than that, and they have played really big roles over the years.”

In fact, Walton said that the couple made an “early investment” in the Bridge Street History Center around the time that it was established in 2006.

“They just believe in what we’re doing, (you) know, and they want to help us do it,” he said.

Set up in a house that was built by David Lee and Sudie Nutt in 1879, the Bridge Street History Center has been educating the local community about the history of Granbury and Hood County for 15 years — which is also about how old the current roof is, according to Walton.

“We were told by DT Roofing that the roof really needed to be replaced,” he said. “We knew that it was just something we were going to have to start biting the bullet to do and try to set aside funds that we would be able to use as we accumulated the money to do it. If we started budgeting for it, hopefully in several years, we could get the roof replaced.”

Thanks to Clayton’s generous donation, however, the Bridge Street History Center can use its funds in other ways to help benefit the center.

“The roof for the next 40 or 50 years is not going to have to be replaced, and that takes a great burden off of this board and future boards to not have to be concerned with allocating funds and setting aside funds to be able to replace it,” Walton added. “That means you can spend those funds that you would otherwise have to be setting aside to replace the roof. We could never afford to put this roof on, so it really affords us a great opportunity. For a little museum like us, it’s a great relief.”