Built 1863 Designated NRHP February 24, 1975 Area 2,000 m² | NRHP Reference # 75001033 Opened 1863 | |
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Location Off County Highway 5, Stillwater Township, Minnesota Architect Michael Hanly, Fredrick Curtis MPS Washington County MRA (AD) Similar Goldstein Museum of Design, Mall of America, Minnesota Zoo | ||
The Point Douglas–St. Louis River Road Bridge is the oldest known stone arch bridge in the state of Minnesota, built in 1863. It was constructed in Stillwater Township to carry the Point Douglas to Superior Military Road over Brown's Creek. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 for having local significance in the themes of engineering and transportation. It was nominated as an example of stone engineering and as a remnant of Minnesota's early government roads.
History
The road that was carried by the bridge was built as one of Minnesota's earliest road construction projects. When Minnesota became a territory in 1849, there were few land transportation routes other than the Red River Trails, although water transportation was possible along the rivers. Henry Hastings Sibley, who later became Minnesota's first governor, appealed to the United States Congress in 1850 for funds to build a network of military roads in Minnesota Territory. The Minnesota Road Act was passed in July 1850. The Point Douglas to Superior Military Road was authorized from Point Douglas (north of present-day Hastings), through Cottage Grove, Stillwater, Marine Mills (now Marine on St. Croix), Falls of St. Croix (now Taylors Falls), and to the "Falls or Rapids of the Saint Louis River of Lake Superior". The presumed purpose of these military roads was to provide a way for army troops to move quickly to an area where they were needed, but in practice these roads were more often used by civilians traveling between existing settlements or settling new areas.
There are no records of any previous bridges at this location, so it is unclear why the bridge was built in 1863, well after the military roads were authorized. Brown's Creek had been diverted south to power one of the first sawmills in Stillwater, and the remaining trickle was easy to ford. The Point Douglas to St. Louis River Road was never fully completed as a military road because Congress only allocated $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000 at a time, so Sibley and other representatives had to keep appealing to Congress for more funds to complete the roads. By 1858, the year Minnesota became a state, two-thirds of the Point Douglas to St. Louis River Road was substantially complete.
The bridge is built of locally quarried limestone by local builders Frederick Curtis and Michael Hanly. The Washington County Board of Commissioners may not have been satisfied with the work, though, because the board refused to accept the work and refused to pay the men, even though the bridge was put into use. In 1974 Frederick Curtis' grandson Tom Curtis discovered that the bridge builders probably had been owed about $500 at the time, and after a century of compounded interest, the bridge builders would have been owed about $200,000 in 1974 dollars. The stone bridge was used until about 1891, when a wider wood bridge was built about 200 feet (60 m) east of the stone bridge, and the road was shifted onto a new alignment. In 1905 a local miller incorporated the bridge into a three-story mill on the site. The mill did not succeed, and it was torn down in 1927, leaving only the bridge.