The History of the Aerial Lift Bridge

DULUTH - With standing steel towers on either side, the top span still in place and vehicles constantly crossing from park to point, Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge is the icon of the Zenith City.

"The canal was first finished being dug in the spring of 1871, from that time until 1905 there was no permanent bridge," Tony Dierckins, historian for ZenithCity.com said.

The bridge has always been more than just  a way to cross the canal. Many other transportation ideas never gained approval because of safety issues until the aerial bridge came about.

"The U.S. government took ownership of the canal back in the 1870's and the idea for it is to be a shipping passageway. Not a way to get over to park point. The priority was to always get shipping through," Dierckins said.

The reason the canal was dug in the first place was to have a safe harbor for the grain trade.

"Our first grain elevator was built outside of Minnesota Point and Lake Superior seas were often too rough for that and it wasn't a safe place to harbor large vessel loading grainl," Dierckins explained.

Grain wasn't the only focus at this time. In the 1880's lumber became a big business in the region, and in the 1890's ore docks went into action to help with shipping iron ore.

"We regained our city status in 1888 and started asking the other townships to join us as a community and when we asked park point they said yes, but you have to build us this bridge first. The park point citizens were the driving force behind getting both of these bridges built for their communities," Dierckins said.

In 1905 the transfer bridge used a gondola car transported by cables and rails. This allowed it to be cleared off the waterway when shipping traffic had to go through.

"With some modifications for Duluth's climate, ours became the first stiff truss Aerial Transfer Bridge. The only one in North America at the time," Dierckins said.

But as Duluth was closing in on 100,000 people in population by 1925, adding thousands more automobiles driving on city roads, the harder it became to move people from canal to Park Point.

"There were not enough hours in the day for the transfer bridge to move vehicles across the bridge as needed to go across," Dierckins explained.

And in June of 1930, with some of the 1905 bridge still in place, the Aerial Lift Bridge was complete, spanning nearly 400 feet across.

"What makes the Duluth Lift Bridge unique is it's the only lift bridge with a crossing top span in existence. It's two bridges in one. It's a 1905 and a 1930 bridge," Dierckins said.

Today the bridge can be raised to its full height in about three minutes and goes up around 30 times a day during the busiest part of the shipping season.