Constructed in 1882-1883 as a railroad bridge by James J. Hill and the Minneapolis Union Railway Company and designed by Colonel Charles C. Smith, the Stone Arch Bridge cut diagonally across the Mississippi River with a 6° curve at the west end; it was 2,100 feet long, 76 feet high, had 23 arches, and was built of 100,000 tons of stone, including granite from Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, and limestone from nearby Mississippi River bluffs and from Mankate, Minnesota, Stone City, Iowa, and Bridgeport, Wisconsin. Construction lasted twenty-two months from January 16, 1882 to November 22, 1883, with 600 men working day and night through winter and summer, using horses harnessed to windlasses, steam-powered pumps to remove water during pier foundation work, and trains to haul stone from distant quarries; three men lost their lives. The arches were reinforced from crown to crown in 1907-1910 to carry heavier loads, the tracks were widened and parapet walls cut back in 1925 to accommodate larger trains, and in 1948 eighty-two passenger trains crossed daily in the bridge’s heyday. Construction of the St. Anthony Falls Upper Lock by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1961-1963 required removal of arches 13 and 14 and Pier 14 and installation of a 200-foot Warren truss, and record-breaking spring floods in 1965 caused major damage to pier 7 and arches 6 and 7, after which repairs were made by the Great Northern Railway Company. The last passenger train crossed in 1978, Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority purchased the bridge in 1989, ownership passed to the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 1992, and rehabilitation in 1993-1994 turned it into a pedestrian and bicycle trail linking the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail with other riverfront trail systems.
