The people of Bridgeport OK once had big dreams. St. Louis and Tulsa were both Rt 66 cities on major rivers...so was Bridgeport. St. Louis and Tulsa prospered from the traffic funnel created by bridge crossings...and so would Bridgeport.

They were on the west side of the only bridge over Oklahoma's wide Canadian River for many miles. And the new superhighway, Rt 66, had to go over it, with cars paying a steep toll--which flowed right into the Bridgeport economy.

So they planned a good-sized city here and they laid out streets with big-city names. For a while, their plan worked just fine.

But then the highway department decided to build a new, free, bridge a couple miles downstream. And when that new free bridge went up, all the Rt 66 traffic went with it--and Bridgeport was left (as they say in the river business) "high and dry."

There were other complicating factors toio. They help explain why in the heart of downtown Bridgeport OK today, Main and Broadway are both narrow gravel roads. Also why Broadway doesn't bother going east: it would be pointless.

Left unexplained is why there's such a huge stop sign here...or why there's a stop sign at all.