Will Garrett bridge reopens with new name

Published 8:46 am Monday, May 23, 2022

Residents driving down the recently reopened Will Garrett Road in Toomsuba may notice a bronze plaque embedded on the side of the newly completed bridge over Toomsuba Creek.

When the bridge reopened May 9, it did so with a new name.

Lauderdale County District 2 Supervisor Wayman Newell said the Henry Garrett bridge was named in honor of a long-time resident of the Toomsuba community.

“Henry Barrett, back when I was a boy, was farmer and a fertilizer distributor out in the county,” he said. “A lot of people didn’t have access to come into town to get their seeds and their fertilizer, and he sold it to the people out there.”

Barrett would purchase the fertilizer and store it in his shed, Newell recalled. He would then sell it to local farmers for them to use on their fields.

Henry Barrett has since died, but his two children, Bobby and Billy Barrett, now own the property their father once farmed. Bobby Barrett, Newell said, was instrumental in helping the Will Garrett Road project come to fruition.

“Bobby Barrett worked with the county extensively to get the right of way and take out some the curve in the old road,” he said. “We replaced the old bridge there with a new one and relocated it.”

Newell said he had initially planned to call the new bridge the Bobby Barrett Bridge to recognize him for his help, but Barrett asked for the bridge to be named after his father.

“It’s a little plaque out there saying the Henry Barrett Bridge, and it’s got each one of the supervisor’s names, the date that it was completed and the road manager on it,” he said. “It will be there for eternity.”

The Will Garrett Road project took longer than expected, Newell said, but it did get done. And, he said, the county was able to recognize Henry Barrett for his contribution to local farmers and to Lauderdale County.