Last week we visited the historic Stillwater Lift Bridge between Minnesota and Wisconsin. This bridge was built in 1931 and was closed to traffic in 2017 when the new river crossing bridge opened. In 2020, it reopened as a pedestrian/bicycle bridge.
When mom was a kid, she used to go to Stillwater a couple times a year with her great aunt. She remembers the bridge and walking along the St. Croix River back then. You may remember, Mom has documented her life with photos since she was seven when she had her first camera with things called film and flashcubes. Lucky for us, she has a closet full of albums from the days of “film”. When writing this post she told me she had a photo of the bridge from 1977, and what do you know, she does have one. We scanned it in for you. The dark figures are her great aunt and her brother sitting on a bench. Mom really has photos of everything!
Now in 2021, we have a similar view from a bit further down the river. The bridge is made of seven fixed steel trusses spanning one thousand fifty feet, which included the vertical lifting span of one hundred forty feet. Waddell & Harrington is the type of lifting span, and is one of only six built in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Only three are still standing today, including the one in Stillwater, and it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
As we mentioned, the Stillwater Lift Bridge is now for people and bikes, no more cars. Each side is for walkers or runners, the middle is for bikers. There weren’t many bikes the day we were there, so people were walking in the bike lane too. The bridge is now the final piece to the 4.7 mile St. Croix River Crossing Loop Trail which takes people through the Minnesota and Wisconsin sides of the river.
Downtown in the historic town of Stillwater one of the buildings has a nice mural of the bridge from the olden days. The tight space where the mural is makes it hard to get enough room for a full photo, thus we are missing some the sides. Back in 1931 when the bridge was new it must have been quite an amazing thing to see!
We are lucky to see so many pretty fall colored leaves on the banks of the St. Croix. Fall is really in the air and leaves are turning and falling fast around here this week! Down by the bridge there are lots of people, but once you walk away from that area, you have things all to yourself. The funniest thing about our short trip is that we were like celebrities. At least a dozen people asked Mom what breed we are, everyone said how cute we are, it was absolutely crazy! We love being the center of attention, but it was almost too much!
Our last stop was this old trolley car. Stillwater still has trolley cars for tourists but they drive on the road, not on the tracks. Mom had us get on board and then she snapped this photo. Yes, several people saw us posing and started going wild about how adorable we are and they could not believe how well we can pose. It sure was a fun little outing on a beautiful fall day! All Aboard!
We are joining our friends at Living Laughing and Barking in Our Backyard is for their Nature Friday blog hop.
That does look like a fun place to walk on a beautiful, sunny day. It probably was quite a sight to see when it was new, as it still is!
It was probably super modern back then.
As always, interesting and lovely (and historic) photos … we enjoy them so much.
Thank you. It is fun to learn about things even if they are practically in our backyard.
Mom’s parents lived in MN for a few years and mom was there only twice. She remembers visiting Still Water but it was for shopping trips. It’s a beautiful little town!
It used to be a real small, quiet, old town, but now it is such a touristy place a lot of the charm is gone according to Mom. It is still a fun place to go, though.
OMDs what a most interesting post and so much history too. I would love to walk across the pedestrian bridge on a nice summer day. I bet the breezes of the river are so refreshing. I am in awe of Mom having all life’s journeys in photographs. I recall she has lived in many beautiful places with beautiful pups
Hugs cecilia
She traveled a lot around the world and lived in Europe for 10 years, plus she has lots of family photos and pets as well. It’s nice to have them.
these are pawesome photos! How cool that your Mom has been taking photos since she was 7!!!
She has been writing and taking photos for as long as she can remember 🙂
That was so pawsome! When my mom was in elementary school she had a friend from Duluth whose family only came to Florida in the winter. Her friend’s dad built bridges in Minnesnowta in the warmer months. Wonder if he worked on this one. Happy FriYAY! XOXO SPARKLE
You never know, maybe he did. Your mom has some Duluth connections besides just you! The road crews have those schedules still where they work like 8 or 9 months of the year and then are off because of the winter weather. The snowbirds love to go to Florida or Arizona in the winter.
How fun. Reminds me of all the cool bridges we go under in our boat. This bridge reminds me of the Rio Vista Bridge.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. Scritches to all the babies and my best to your mom. ♥
Boats are why they built them. It is fun to see them go up and down, but a bummer if you need to get across and you have to wait.
You two are the “Pose-ey-est” dogs we know. Love the trolly shot! Your mom is a real trooper to save all those photos to show you and us. We took a trip down memory lane ourseslves this week and discovered a picture of me when I was 9 months old – when I still lived with Brent and Corey in florida. Mom didn’t get me til I was almost three years old.
Chablis
And Mom says she got Bailie too late as she was 12 weeks old! Glad you enjoy our photos. We are definitely a photo family.
That looks like it was such a fun trip and how cool you got so much attention!
It was like we were really famous or something, odd but fun.
we love that you know so much thngs about da places you visit… and we love that old things from the past…
Mixing old with new is always fun 🙂
What a really interesting place for a nice walk!!
It’s a fun, really old town.
What a fun place to visit!!
It’s a big tourist destination these days but we still like it.