O'Neal Butler sits on the railing of the Butler Mill Bridge that spans
the Paint Rock River on the Madison-Marshall county line.  

By: Patricia Dedrick
Huntsville Times 1991

When the Butler Mill Bridge opened 56 years ago it joined two counties,  made 
neighbors out of strangers and created a close-knit community.

Now two simple words from county officials -- Bridge Closed -- will make it harder
for folks to stay that close.  Madison and Marshall counties residents will have to
drive an extra 10 to 12 miles to visit their neighbors across the Paint Rock River after
Friday.

"It's dividing a community," said Madison County Commissioner Jerry Craig, whose
district adjoins the bridge.  "But there's nothing we can do," said Craig.

Signs and barricades will be placed at the entrances to the bridge over the weekend by
both the Madison and Marshall commissioners. State and federal highway departments
officials insist that the bridge is too dangerous to use.  The federal highway department
warned both counties that they could lose all federal highway money if the bridge
remained open.

Highway officials, after two separate inspections, said the steel beams holding the floor
of the 140 food, one-lane bridge are unsafe.

O'Neal Butler, who lives about "2 1/2 miles above it as the crow flies," helped build the
bridge's floor.

Butler, or "Neal" as folks call him, was 17 when the bridge was rebuilt.  "I can remember
when it was an old river bridge and it was covered with boards. Then we rebuilt it. We went
up the mountain and hauled down rock and used a mixer to build those pillars and they still
good.  I worked for 50 cents a day and tickled to death to get a job," said Butler, now 74.

He believes he is the only person still alive who worked on the Marshall County side 
of the bridge.  The bridge was built as a project by both counties, but Madison county 
listed  it among its  bridge inventory.  "That means it's their bridge," said Dwight 
Kelley,  the  Marshall County commissioner whose district includes a portion of the bridge.

"It has been customary for Marshall to keep it up just up to the arches on the bridge.
The problem is on the old side of the bridge and that is on the Madison County side.
Marshall County's side is in decent shape," Kelley said.  "But it wouldn't do much
good to have half a bridge open."

The floor needs replacing and the beams inspected again on Marshall County's side,
Kelley said.  The commission will do all it can to repair its section, he said.

A petition with more than 1,000 names has been delivered to both commissions
asking that everything possible be done to keep the bridge open. "We'd like
to see something done to save it," said Stephen Rice, who uses it each day to
get to Huntsville to work.

Replacing the bridge could cost nearly $1 million, said David Pope, county engineer.
The inconvenience will be great, Rice said, especially for Marshall County residents.
It will mean extra miles to get to Huntsville and there is no "good place" to pull onto
U.S. 72 East.  Residents will have to either go south over Grant Mountain to U.S. 431
or go north to Woodville to U.S. 72 when entering Madison County.

Click here for additional photos of Butler's Mill