MINNESOTA ARCHITECTURE - HISTORY INVENTORY FORM Project: Local Historic Bridge Study - Phase II Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Identification SHPO Inventory Number HE-MPC-5045 Historic Name Bridge 92322 Review and Compliance Number Current Name Bridge 92322 Form (New or Updated) Updated Field # Description Address 4900 Block 12th Avenue South over Minnehaha Creek Linear Feature? No City/Twp Minneapolis HPC Status: Potential Resource Type Structure County Hennepin Architect/Engineer M.E. Olson Legal Desc. Twp 28 Range 24 Sec 14 QQ SENW Style No Style USGS Quad Minneapolis South Construction Date 1930 UTM Zone 15N Datum NAD83 Easting 479672 Northing 4973279 Original Use Transportation Property ID (PIN) Current Use Transportation Description Bridge 92322 carries 12th Avenue South over Minnehaha Creek in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Constructed in 1930, the bridge is aligned north-south and passes through Minnehaha Creek Park on a perpendicular alignment to the creek, between East Minnehaha Parkway and East 50th Street. The bridge is located within the Minnehaha Segment of the Grand Rounds. The park area surrounding Minnehaha Creek features hilly terrain with steep banks on either side of the creek. Dense areas of mature trees, as well as manicured open spaces with walking and biking trails, line the creek. East Minnehaha Parkway is located on the north side of the creek and generally follows the curvilinear alignment of the creek. Bridge 92322 is a single-span, reinforced concrete deck-girder bridge with a false elliptical arch veneer. The bridge is designed in the Rustic style. The bridge has a main span length of 30 feet and a total structure length of 33 feet. The out-to-out deck width is 52 feet. The substructure is comprised of cast-in-place concrete abutments, wing walls, and ornamental buttresses that are applied to the wing walls on either side of the arch span. A false elliptical arch facing obscures the abutments and girders from view, except for under the span, and gives the impression of this being a masonry arch bridge. The wing walls, arch, and buttresses are faced in a rough-cut, irregular-coursed, limestone veneer. The false arch has irregular coursed limestone voussoirs. The superstructure is comprised of nine cast-in-place concrete deck girders with a concrete deck and wearing surface. Six-foot wide sidewalks are located along both sides of the deck. The railings are stone parapet walls of rough-cut limestone that are continuations of the falsework below the deck. Each railing has four groups of three symmetrical rectangular openings. The railing is slightly arched across the bridge to reinforce the perception of it being a masonry arch. At each end of the railing there are small, round arch scuppers. A smooth concrete cap tops the railings. Simple pipe railings with two horizontal pipe rails line the approaches to the bridge. Integrity - Good Bridge 92322 remains in its original location, retains its historic park setting within the Minnehaha Segment of the Grand Rounds, and retains its historic use as a crossing over Minnehaha Creek. As such, the bridge retains good integrity of location and setting. According to the registration requirements in the “Reinforced-Concrete Highway Bridges in Minnesota MPDF,” in order to be eligible for the NRHP, “the significant reinforced-concrete element in the superstructure span…must be in substantially original condition. Because this engineering element is the most important feature of bridges in this property type, neither an original substructure nor an original deck and railing system are necessary for the bridge to be eligible (although these components, when original, may enhance the significance of the bridge)” (Frame 1988:F-7). Since the bridge’s construction in 1930, only routine maintenance has been performed on the bridge, including the replacement of the deck in 1979, tuckpointing of the masonry joints in 1986, and sealing cracks in 1999. None of this work has altered the design, appearance, or function of HE-MPC-5045 MINNESOTA ARCHITECTURE - HISTORY INVENTORY FORM Project: Local Historic Bridge Study - Phase II Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota the structure as a concrete deck girder bridge with a false-arch facing. As such, the bridge retains sufficient integrity of design, materials, and workmanship to convey its design significance. Due to the lack of changes or alterations to the bridge and its setting, the bridge retains good integrity of feeling and association. Overall, the bridge retains sufficient integrity to convey its historic associations and significance. EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS Historical Context Reinforced Concrete Highway Bridges in MN, 1900-1945 Historical Narrative Bridge 92322 was constructed in 1930 by the City of Minneapolis and is one of several bridges constructed by the City in the early twentieth century to cross Minnehaha Creek at various locations throughout the southern part of the city. Plans for Bridge 92322 indicate that this bridge was designed by the Bridge Department of the Minneapolis City Engineer’s Office. On the plans, M. E. Olson is noted as the engineer and F. T. Paul is listed as the City Engineer (Minneapolis City Engineers Office 1930). Bridge 92322 carries 12th Avenue South over Minnehaha Creek, which is within the boundaries of the Minnehaha Parkway segment of the Grand Rounds. In 1883, the Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners hired Horace W. S. Cleveland to design an overall park plan for the city. Cleveland was a park designer and advocate who lived in Minneapolis for over a decade in the latter half of the 1800s. The Grand Rounds is a series of parkways encircling the city and connecting lakes, rivers, creeks, and other natural features, and continued to be developed and expanded throughout the twentieth century. Development of the Grand Rounds included the construction of bridges connecting roads and paths between waterways. In 2012, the Grand Rounds were determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Minnehaha Parkway was developed by the Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners beginning in 1889 to connect Minnehaha Park with the Chain of Lakes (Roise 2012:7-31). While land acquisition began in 1889, it was not until 1923 that a comprehensive plan of improvements, including widening the parkway and realigning the creek bed, occurred (Smith 2008:173- 174). When Bridge 92322 was constructed, Minnehaha Parkway was a well established element of the Minneapolis park system. As such, when plans were made for the construction of Bridge 92322, the Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners was asked to approve the plans for the bridge. An entry in the Board of Park Commissioners Meeting Minutes from March 19, 1930 notes that the Board of Park Commissioners approved the bridge project after receiving a letter from the City Engineer on March 18, 1930 which read: “Gentlemen: Your Standing Committee on Improvements to whom was referred the request of the City Engineer for the consent of this Board to the construction of a bridge over Minnehaha Creek at 12th Avenue South and the improvement of 12th Avenue South across Minnehaha Parkway respectfully reports and recommends that the request be granted, with the understanding that the plans for the bridge be first approved by the Board of Park Commissioners, and the grade be fixed by said Board” (Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners 1930:53). In keeping with a common precedent of realigning Minnehaha Creek to serve user needs, Minnehaha Creek was altered before the erection of the bridge. As part of the project, the creek was diverted to flow under the bridge at a right angle to minimize the necessary width of the bridge’s span (Hess, Roise and Company 1994). As a result of on-going maintenance, some minor changes have occurred to Bridge 92322 since its construction in 1930. In 1979, a 10-inch concrete slab, curbs, and sidewalks were placed on the bridge, replacing the original. The deck was rehabbed and the railing tuckpointed in 1986. Rip rap was placed around the abutments in 1987 and pipe rail approach railings were installed in 1992. Cracks in the sidewalk and deck were sealed in 1997 and again in 1999. In 2011, the asphalt roadway adjacent to the bridge approaches was milled and overlayed (MnDOT 2012). Significance HE-MPC-5045 MINNESOTA ARCHITECTURE - HISTORY INVENTORY FORM Project: Local Historic Bridge Study - Phase II Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota In 1994, Bridge 92322 was determined eligible for the NRHP within the historic context “Reinforced-Concrete Highway bridges in Minnesota, 1900-1945” (Hess, Roise and Company 1994). The Bridge meets Registration Requirement 5 of the Reinforced- Concrete Highway Bridges in Minnesota Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF), as a bridge “Designed with outstanding architectural style or ornamentation.” Registration Requirement 5 states that such “bridges represent extraordinary aesthetic efforts to enhance a crossing at an important location. They usually are found in significant and prominent urban settings, such as… in park settings” (Frame 1988:F-8). They may “demonstrate formal styles (Classical Revival is common; Art Deco or Streamline Moderne is rare), or rustic styles (usually stone veneer)” (Frame 1988:F-8). Additionally, such bridges may have a stone veneer that is either “formal (i.e., coursed, ashlar, with Classical Revival overtones) or informal (rubble, cobblestone, or other ‘rustic’ mode). Usually these are arch bridges, but a rare type is a girder bridge designed to resemble an arch bridge” (Frame 1988:F-8). Bridge 92322 is significant as a rare example of a girder bridge designed to resemble an arch bridge. The bridge also exhibits rustic architectural styling that greatly enhances the aesthetics of its prominent park setting. As a result of this, combined with the lack of significant changes over time that may have altered the bridge’s construction or design, Bridge 92322 was found to have significance under NRHP Criterion C.