MANNSVILLE, Okla. — The Norton bridge used to straddle the Washita River, a few miles north of Mannsville, Oklahoma in Johnston County.

Mannsville is about halfway between Ardmore and Tishomingo.

The bridge was decades old, with a wooden bottom; it sat on the state’s to-do list for years.

Once the host of a Hollywood movie shootout, the Norton has a long rich history.

“They had the famous Babyface Nelson shootout over there on the road before you get there,” John Willard remembers.

His wife, Imo Gene Willard finishes the thought, “And in the movie there was a white car. That was my son going fishing.” Yes, her son made the final cut of the movie back in 1973.

The Town of Mannsville watched their famous, infamous bridge wash down river Thursday night.

People have been traveling to the Washita to reminisce about the old bridge.

Kyle Deatherage lives in Edmond now, but he grew up in Ardmore. Deatherage and a friend were on their way to Dallas Friday morning, when they stopped in Mannsville to check out the flooding.

“Unbelievable,” Deatherage said. “It’s crazy. I come down here and hunt all the time. It’s hard to see it gone. My brother and I were just here a few weeks ago, after the flooding in May. I stood on that bridge.”

There is nothing left of the Norton bridge, leaving the families of Johnston County in a bit of a lurch.

There’s no easy way to travel to Tishomingo from here, now that the Washita has busted out of its banks.

The Greasy Bend bridge is about four miles upstream from the Norton.

It’s washed out, but still standing.

Residents like John D. Woodruff are wondering if it will still be structurally sound once the floodwaters recede.

“It may get washed away yet,” Woodruff said.

If the lifeline holds, it will be costly to repair.