Railroad: Stone Arch Bridge, Amtrak, formerly Great Northern Railway
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Date: 1975
Credit: John Gruber, Center for Railroad Photography & Art, Gruber-07S-02-04
An Amtrak passenger train crosses the Stone Arch Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1975. Railroad baron James J. Hill commissioned the bridge for his transcontinental Great Northern Railway, which it served for nearly a century.
In 1970, the Great Northern merged with the Northern Pacific and two other railroads to form the Burlington Northern. The new company owned two bridges over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis but only needed one. Soon nearly all trains were crossing the river on the Northern Pacific bridge, located half-a-mile upstream, and which the BNSF Railway still uses today.
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Trail: Stone Arch Bridge on the Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Trail
Trail length: 0.4 miles
Date: September 20, 2021
Credit: Chap Achen, courtesy of photography
The Stone Arch Bridge still stands, connecting Mill Ruins Park on the west bank to Father Hennepin Park on the east bank. It is a part of the Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Trail and the only bridge over the entire Mississippi River made of stone. Today it is a capstone of the Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park, which sees more than 3.5 million visitors a year.
Burlington Northern sold the bridge to Hennepin County in 1989, which transferred ownership to the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 1993. With assistance from a federal grant, the state and park board converted the 640-meter-long bridge into a pedestrian and bicycle path.
