Free Bridge Powerhouse - Redding, CA
N 40° 34.212 W 122° 22.652
10T E 552689 N 4491233
This former powerhouse now sits preserved and fenced in from public access within Parkview Riverfront Park.
Waymark Code: WMMPMG
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 10/20/2014
Views: 2
Located in Parkview Riverfront Park is the ruins of a former powerhouse that once provided electrical power to parts of Redding many years ago. The building has deteriorated over the years and has had a fence built around it to protect it from vandalism and probably for safety reasons as well. I was able to locate a website that highlighted the history of this structure and reads:
The bridge was built across the Sacramento River at the outskirts of Redding in 1884. It washed away in 1906 and was rebuilt by 1908 as a 320-foot span making it the largest steel span in California at that time. In 1940 it was damaged by floods and repaired. In 1948 the Cypress Street Bridge was built just upstream. The Free Bridge was closed in 1951, declared unsafe after the 1955 flood, closed to traffic in 1956 and dismantled the same year; its two concrete piers still stand just south of the Cypress Street Bridge on each side of the river. The Free Bridge Powerhouse, an electrical substation, was built in 1897 and took its name from the bridge. Power was routed through the building from the Volta Powerhouse in Manton.
Directions: Take Cypress Street in Redding to Freebridge Street; drive east to where it ends at the river. The old bridge piers are straight ahead in the river and the walls of the stone powerhouse are on the west bank of the river.