Stone Arch Bridge

James J. Hill commissioned the bridge for his railway enterprise, which became the Great Northern. Wikipedia credits Charles C. Smith as head engineer and gives the construction years as 1882 to 1883; other sources say it was begun a year earlier, so the start date varies by source. The American Society of Civil Engineers, which designated it a landmark, gives 1883 as its completion date and calls it one of the finest stone viaducts in the world.

The numbers are impressive. The ASCE records a length of 2,100 feet and 23 circular stone arch spans, built as a double-track structure and requiring about 100,000 tons of stone. The Minnesota Historical Society gives the width as 28 feet, enough for two tracks side by side, and says the 23 arches vary from forty to 100 feet wide; granite from Sauk Rapids went into the piers, with limestone from Mankato and Iowa used for the facing. The bridge's gentle curve is often called its most striking feature. The cost is reported as $650,000 at the time. Early critics nicknamed it "Hill's Folly" until its value as a rail link became clear.

The ASCE describes it as believed to be the oldest mainline railroad bridge over the Mississippi, a claim worth treating as the society's own wording.

Wikipedia reports that two arches were replaced by a steel truss of about 200 feet during construction of the lock and dam in the early 1960s, and that a 1965 flood caused a pier to settle. Sources disagree on when trains stopped: accounts variously cite 1978, 1982 and 1983. Burlington Northern later sold the bridge to Hennepin County in 1989, and ownership passed to the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 1993. With federal help, the state and the park board then converted it to a pedestrian and bicycle path. The ASCE and other sources date the conversion to 1994, while one account says it officially opened in 1995.

The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 as part of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District, and was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1974.

Walking across, you look upstream toward Saint Anthony Falls, which powered the milling district that grew up around it, and the converted mill buildings on the riverbanks. The heritage trail it anchors connects the sites of that industrial history. Because the surface is a shared path for people on foot and on bikes, expect to move at the pace of the crowd.

Conditions on and around the bridge can change, so check the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Trail resources for current access. On a Voyzo private tour of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, your driver can drop you near the river and collect you at the other end of the trail, so you only walk the route one way.