The Cowboy Pink Williams Bridge - Kenefic, OK - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

The Person

Cowboy Pink Williams (1892-1976) was from South Carolina, but he grew up in Caddo, east of here. He was primarily a businessman, and it wasn't until the 1950s that he became interested in politics. A reminder that politics have never been about sunshine and lollipops: Williams mounted a campaign that involved a controversial postcard that used a Democratic donkey "kicking the ass", as it were, of President Eisenhower's Republican party, aimed at ranchers who had not flourished under its policies after having voted for Eisenhower. The post office eventually decided to not deliver all of the 500,000 post cards that Williams had ordered, and there was more controversy over his name not being on the ballot properly, something he addressed by actually changing his name to "Cowboy Pink Williams" (and both names appear on his headstone in Ardmore). Nothing earth-shattering appears to have happened while he was lieutenant governor, and he served as state treasurer for four years before moving on. He did announce his intention to run for the US Congress, but that never panned out. He rolled up his sleeves to serve as planning committee chair when Caddo celebrated its centennial in 1973, and he died there in 1976.

The Bridge

The Bridge Reports website indicates that a concrete stringer bridge was constructed or at least begun here in 1959, and there is a 2018 report noting that the bridge's condition warranted replacement. A 2015 news report even suggested that that was in the works. A comparison of 2020 photos in the gallery and Google Maps Street view notes that obviously, they have gone ahead with a replacement, but it is difficult to tell whether they completely replaced the bridge or just the deck and other components. Regardless, the granite base for the old dedication plaque still stands, and the bridge is still known as "The Cowboy Pink Williams Bridge". The plaque had gone missing for some time, as noted in Google Maps, but it is here now and it reads:

The Cowboy Pink
Williams
Bridge
~
Dedicated in honor of
Cowboy Pink Williams
~
Lieutenant Governor
1955 -- 1959
State Treasurer
1963 -- 1967

Authorized by the
Oklahoma Legislature
1961

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