Stone Arch Bridge - St. Anthony Falls Historic District - Minneapolis, MN
N 44° 58.850 W 093° 15.524
15T E 479601 N 4980853
The Stone Arch Bridge, once referred to as "Jim Hill's Folly," crosses the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. It is a contributing structure of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District.
Waymark Code: WM75F2
Location: Minnesota, United States
Date Posted: 09/04/2009
Views: 18
From
Wikipedia:
The Stone Arch Bridge is a former railroad bridge crossing the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Positioned between the 3rd Avenue Bridge and the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge, the Stone Arch Bridge was built in 1883 by railroad tycoon James J. Hill for his Great Northern Railway, and accessed the former passenger station located about a mile to the west, on the west bank of the river. The structure is now used as a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. It is an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 as a part of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District, (District #71000438).
From the Minnesota Historical Society website:
Railroad Properties: Stone Arch Bridge (in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District)
Location: Mississippi River at the Falls of St. Anthony, Minneapolis, Hennepin County
Built: 1881-83
Engineer: Col. Charles C. Smith
Listed on NRHP: March 11, 1971
Gracefully spanning the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis, the Stone Arch Bridge serves as a key link in the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail, connecting historic buildings and archaeological sites on both sides of the river. It is the oldest mainline railroad bridge in the Northwest and the only stone arch bridge across the Mississippi.
The Stone Arch Bridge resulted from a partnership between the City of Minneapolis and railroad magnate James J. Hill to bring passenger traffic from St. Paul directly into the city’s downtown business district. Hill originally wanted an iron bridge crossing the Mississippi above the Falls of St. Anthony at Nicollet Island. Bridge engineer Col. Charles C. Smith realized, however, that such a design would create a bottleneck on the river and could destabilize the eroding sandstone beneath the falls.
Built of more than 100,000 tons of stone – granite from Sauk Rapids, Minn.; marble from Bridgeport, Wis.; magnesium limestone from Mankato, Minn., and Stone City, Iowa, as well as limestone quarried on the spot – the bridge carried two sets of railroad tracks. The 2,100-foot curving span originally had 23 arches, ranging from 40 to 100 feet wide. In 1962 two arches were removed and a steel truss bridge inserted into the curve to accommodate commercial barges. The last train crossed the bridge in 1978; since then it has been converted to pedestrian traffic.
A more detailed history of this beautiful bridge is available on the Minneapolis Riverfront District website.