Dillinger Bridge Wins Time
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | June 2, 2009
The Rock Island Swing Bridge in Invers Grove, Minn., has been closed since 1999.
Credit: Danny Joyce
A Minnesota bridge that John Dillinger once used to flee from FBI agents, has eluded demolition—for now.
Built in 1894, the damaged Rock Island Swing Bridge in Inver Grove, Minn., was slated for destruction this month. But on May 16, after hundreds of people rallied for the bridge's preservation, Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed an omnibus bonding and construction bill that contained $100,000 for the bridge and a two-year moratorium on its demolition.
State Sen. James Metzen and Rep. Joe Atkins introduced the moratorium earlier this year in an attempt to save the partially demolished bridge.
"It's like the ending to a 'Rocky' movie," Atkins said in a May 11 statement. "Everything has gone wrong for the bridge until now."
Now, however, "We're pretty encouraged about its long-term prospects," says Erin Hanafin Berg, field representative for the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, which on May 7 named the bridge one of the state's most endangered historic places.
The Rock Island Swing Bridge closed in 1999 because it was unsafe; last November, 200 feet of concrete and steel fell off the 609-foot-long bridge's eastern side. In response, Washington County and Dakota County, the bridge's custodians, tore down several spans of what was once the longest swing bridge in the country.
Today only the pilings and the middle portion of the beloved bridge remain, but some fans say that the entire structure can be rebuilt, restored, and turned into an overlook and fishing pier. Last month Simley High School students organized a fundraiser for the rebuilding, raising $900. (The project needs another $1 million.) Inver Grove Heights resident Keith Joyce has started a Facebook page with almost 500 followers.
"My son and I used to go down there and just hang out, sit on the edge, and talk," Joyce says. "That bridge and the rail yard is what caused the development of the village of Inver Grove, and there's so little history left in Inver Grove to save."
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Comments
Submitted by Timmy at: June 8, 2009
Nice Job Guys!! Kepp up the good work!