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Lost
Bridges
Postcard showing the following bridges,
heading upriver: Minneapolis Western Railroad, Lower (10th
Avenue), Stone Arch, and falsework for the Third Avenue bridge,
under construction; ca. 1917 |
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In
addition to the many bridges present today in the Minneapolis Riverfront
District, the area also harbors the ghosts of bridges from the past
which have been since replaced or removed. The remnants of some
of these can be seen in today’s landscape, while others exist
only in memory and old photographs. Some of these bridges crossed
the main channel of the Mississippi or linked islands with the bank;
others were entirely on land, crossing other barriers such as rail
lines or roadways. |
Minneapolis
Western Railroad Bridge (1887 - 1952)
Bridge type: iron under-truss
bridge
As
the milling district on the west side of the Falls grew, so did
a complex of railyards to facilitate shipment of raw materials and
finished goods. The Minneapolis Western Railroad was incorporated
in 1884 specifically to serve the flour mills, and, by 1891, it
had started building riverside yards just downstream of the mills.
In 1887, it built an iron truss bridge to serve the future railyard;
this bridge followed a diagonal alignment across the river, leaving
the east bank at 8th Avenue Southeast and reaching the west bank
at 11th Avenue South. The bridge was acquired by the Great Northern
Railroad in 1928 and demolished in 1952. |
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Minneapolis Western Railroad bridge,
looking toward east bank with Lower St. Anthony Falls Hydrostation
in background, 1903 |
10th Avenue South/Lower Bridge (1874 - 1943)
Bridge type: iron under-truss
bridge, replacing an earlier wood footbridge
| This bridge,
as well as the Upper (first Plymouth Avenue) Bridge, was built as
part of an agreement made between the cities of St. Anthony and
Minneapolis when they consolidated in 1872. A narrow wooden footbridge
existed in this location as early as 1857, but it may have been
demolished after just a few years, leaving this reach of the river
without a convenient connection. |
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The city of St. Anthony, looking downstream,
with Hennepin Island at the right and the first Lower (10th Avenue)
footbridge in the distance, 1857 |
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Lower Bridge under construction, 1874
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In 1873, the King Bridge
Company of Topeka, Kansas began construction of an iron truss bridge on
masonry piers, connecting 10th Avenue South on the west bank with 6th
Avenue Southeast on the east side. It was originally known as the Lower
Bridge and later as the 10th Avenue Bridge. In deteriorating condition,
it was closed to vehicular traffic in 1934 and was demolished in early
1943, with the scrap iron recycled for use in World War II. One masonry
pier still stands today like a sentinel in the river near the east bank.
This bridge should not be confused with the current 10th Avenue (Cedar
Avenue) bridge, built in 1929, which is located downstream of the earlier
bridge.
10th Avenue Bridge looking toward west
bank, with Stone Arch Bridge in background, ca. 1920 |
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10th Avenue Bridge about to be demolished,
1942 |
Minneapolis and St.
Louis Railroad Bridge (at 10th Avenue South)
(ca. 1891 - ?)
Bridge type: iron through plate-girder
bridge
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Around
1891, the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad built a short bridge parallel
to the west bank of the river to carry its tracks over 10th Avenue South.
The tracks continued into the downstream end of the milling district and
facilitated the movement of raw materials and finished products to and
from the mills. Portions of this bridge may have been incorporated into
today’s West River Parkway adjacent to the Guthrie Theater complex.
| View along 10th
Avenue South of M & St. L RR bridge, 1916 |
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Except from an panoramic view of Minneapolis,
showing the M & St. L RR bridge in the center, crossing 10th Avenue
South; the Minneapolis Western Railroad bridge crosses 10th Avenue diagonally
in the foreground, 1891 |
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Minneapolis and St.
Louis Railroad/Minneapolis Western Railroad/Great Northern Railroad
trestle (1878 - 1936)
Minneapolis Eastern Railroad trestle (1879 - 1962)
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railroads built spur lines within the heart of the west-side milling
district to bring raw materials to the very doors of the mills and
carry away finished flour and other goods. These spur lines were
built on bridge-like trestles elevated over the main waterpower
canal (now the West River Parkway Plank Road) and the tailrace (outflow)
canal (now part of Mill Ruins Park). The M & St. L RR was created
by the Washburn brothers, who also owned several mills in the district,
including the famous Washburn Mill. Their first trestle was a wooden
structure built over the canal in 1878, subsequently reconstructed
in iron by the Minneapolis Western Railroad in 1885. Since the trestle
could not support the weight of locomotives, train cars were pulled
along the trestle by a turbine driven by the waterpower of the Falls.
In 1879, the rival Minneapolis Eastern Railroad built another elevated
rail spur which served the mills from the river (tailrace) side.
Remnants of the iron supports of this trestle are visible in Mill
Ruins Park. |
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M & St. L RR trestle over main waterpower
canal, 1885
Minneapolis Eastern Railroad trestle,
1885 |
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Minneapolis Mill Company waterpower tailrace canal bridges (various,
1857 – 1962)
Direct-drive waterpower was supplied to the mills of Minneapolis’
west-side milling district via a canal which conveyed water at the higher,
“above the Falls” elevation, full of potential energy. After
driving turbines, the spent water, now at the lower, “below the
Falls” elevation, exited from each mill and flowed back into the
river through a “tailrace” canal. This canal was originally
simply a natural river channel between the west bank and adjacent Upton’s
Island. Over time, the Minneapolis Mill Company and its succesors formalized
the tailrace canal with walls and other structures. Bridges of various
types were built to connect from Upton’s Island over the tailrace
to the mills on the bank.
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Tailrace canal, looking downstream,
with mills
and railroad trestle on the right and an
insubstantial- looking footbridge at the far end
(date unknown) |
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Tailrace canal, looking down from Stone
Arch bridge, with a more substantial bridge in the foreground,
ca. 1945 |
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First Street South Bridge (1880s - 1999)
Bridge
type: iron through plate-girder
bridge with limestone abutments
Sometime in the early 1880s,
a bridge was built to carry First Street on the west side of the river
across the rail corridor of the Minneapolis and St. Louis (later Chicago
and Northwestern) Railway. This single-span bridge was just 85 feet
long and 35 wide, with a plank sidewalk running along its south side.
It was replaced in 1999 with the current bridge in this location.
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Except from an panoramic view of Minneapolis,
showing the 1st Street bridge in the center, crossing the Minneapolis
and St. Louis Railway line, 1885 |
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Except from an panoramic view of Minneapolis,
showing the 1st Street bridge in the center, crossing the Minneapolis
and St. Louis Railway line; 1891 |
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Hennepin Island east
channel bridges (various, ca. 1851 – ca. 1940)
The earliest development around the Falls occurred on the east
bank near Hennepin Island, so some of the earliest rough bridges in
the area were built to span the channel between the island and the bank.
Early photographs show frighteningly flimsy structures perched tenuously
just on the rim of the east face of the Falls. This could easily have
been the bridge described by Elizabeth Ellet, who visited the area in
1852:
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A
little below, a foot bridge, two boards wide, shackling and uncertain,
but safe enough at the present season, conducts you to an elevated
rocky island [Hennepin] which divides the principal falls …
Crossing it at the upper end to the shore, and descending to the
smooth edge of rock, you come soon to the shelf of rock which faces
the great falls of St Anthony… [which] impress the beholder
with emotions of awe and admiration. |
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Early east channel footbridge and east face
of St. Anthony Falls, 1851 |
This precarious bridge still
existed in 1855, but, by then, an additional and more sturdy wooden
bridge had been built across the channel. |
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Channel and Falls between Hennepin Island
and east bank, looking upstream, with two bridges, ca. 1855 |
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East channel bridge, looking toward Hennepin
Island, 1856 |
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By
1860, both these early bridges had been replaced by an even more substantial
wooden span. This bridge appears to have remained in place with little
alteration for many decades.
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Third east channel bridge and Falls,
ca. 1865 |
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View across the river from the east bank,
with Hennepin Island and third east channel bridge in foreground
and Stone Arch Bridge in background, ca. 1898 |
Sometime between 1914 and 1949, the timespan represented by the two photographs
below, the channel between the east bank and Hennepin Island was finally
filled in, so a bridge was no longer needed. Today, there is a short roadway
in that location connecting Main Street to the Xcel hydroelectric plant.
The last remnant of the original rock face of the Falls still remains
just downstream of this roadway, a small reminder of the way the cataract
looked before a century and a half of industrial development.
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Looking toward the east bank and the
Pillsbury A Mill from Hennepin Island, 1914 |
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The same view in 1949, after the east
channel was filled |
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| Upper
(Plymouth Avenue) bridges First
Upper Bridge ( 1873-1886)
Bridge type: wood Howe
truss
The city of St. Anthony,
on the east bank of the river, was incorporated earlier than Minneapolis
and took an early lead in population and industrial development.
However, by the late 1860s, Minneapolis had outstripped St. Anthony
in growth, with an 1870 population of 13,066 in comparison to
St. Anthony’s 5,013. On April 9, 1872, the two cities consolidated
under the name of Minneapolis. As
a condition of the
merger,
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First Upper (Plymouth Avenue) Bridge,
ca. 1876 |
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Minneapolis agreed to build two new bridges across the Mississippi River,
one above and one below the Hennepin Avenue suspension bridge. In November
1873, the Upper Bridge was completed, linking 13th Avenue (today’s
Plymouth Avenue) on the west side with 8th Avenue Northeast on the east
side.
Second Plymouth Avenue Bridge (1886 – 1983)
Bridge type: iron truss
bridge
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second Plymouth Avenue bridge, an iron truss structure, was built
in 1886, with a major remodeling in 1913. In 1952, it was raised
by sixteen feet to increase clearance for river navigation. Cross-river
travel at this location came to a temporary halt in 1981 when the
bridge was closed due to the rusty and unsafe condition of the floor
beams. The current bridge at this location
was constructed in 1983. |
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Second Plymouth Avenue bridge, viewed
from west side, with workers repairing Plymouth Avenue in the foregroud,
ca. 1940 |
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Lost Bridges
Bridge
Tour Path