Built in 1902 by Chaves County as part of the three-span Pecos River Bridge east of Roswell, this structure was the oldest steel highway bridge in New Mexico and connected the growing town with the smaller communities and ranches of the Eastern Plains. It remained in service until 1937, when severe flooding led to the highway being relocated a few miles away. A few years later, the New Mexico State Highway Department dismantled the Pecos River Bridge and moved its center span to a smaller secondary road over the Rio Hondo, where it linked smaller ranches to the town of Picacho and the adjacent highway to Roswell and Ruidoso. Reassembled at Picacho, the Rio Hondo Bridge was cleaned, re-decked, and painted graphite green, and residents of southeastern Lincoln County fondly called it the Green Bridge. It remained in use until 1989, when it was bypassed by a modern concrete bridge. Lincoln County donated the bridge to the Museum in 2007, and it was dismantled again, moved to its present site, and restored to its historic condition.