MINNESOTA IDSTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY
County Name : Crow Wing
Inventory Number: CW- Fr< T- 00 3
National Register Eligible: Yes
Cityffowmhip: Fort Ripley Township
Critieria :
Bridge No:
1..03942
Towmbip: 043
RaDge: 31W
Section: 18
UTM Coordinates: 15:398679:5117478
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USGS Quadrangle : Fort Ripley
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Context : Historic Iron and Steel Bridges in Minnesota
Period of Sigaificanc::e :
1908-1947
Retains Integrity : Yes
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Structural Data
302
Main Span Type :
01
number main spans :
number appr spans :
structure length :
51.00
deck width:
17.70
Superstructure : single-span, steel, pin-connected. 3-panel, half-hip, Pratt pony truss
Substructure :
concrete straight abutments with flared wingwalls
FloorfDecking :
no deck in place~ floor system consists of 5 rolled, I-beam stringers and 2 outside channel bolted to top of floor
beams
Other Features : upper chord: 2 channels with cover plate and battens~ lower chord: 2 angles with battens~ verticals: 4 angles
with V -lacing~ diagonals: 2 square-section eyerods~ counters: 2 square-section eyerods with turnbuckles;
bottom-lateral bracing: crossed single rods; floor beams: rolled I-beams bolted to superstructure; sway
bracing: angle knee brace connecting vertical and floor beam; railings: 2 lines of angles with angle endposts;
partial bridge plate on southeast endpost: "Built by . .. ecu . . . Mpls, Mn"
Historical Data
Y~bWh:
1~8
Contractor/Builder : Security Bridge Company
Designer :
Security Bridge Company
Statement of significance :
Located in rural Fort Ripley Township in southwestern Crow Wing County, Bridge No. L03942 carries an abandoned, dirt, township-owned road across the Nokasippi River, about
three miles west and one mile south of the small community of St. Mathias. The 50-foot span is a pin-connected, steel, three-pane~ half-hip, Pratt pony truss on concrete abutments
with flared wingwalls. The two truss webs are identically detailed. Two channel sections with cover plate and battens form the top chord, while two angle sections with battens
comprise the lower chord. Vertical members consist of four angle sections with V-lacing; diagonal members are paired square-section eyerods. The diagonals in the center panel are
equipped with turnbuckles. The bridge's flooring system consists of seven rolled stringers (five I-beams and two outer channel sections) bolted to the top flanges of rolled 1-beam
floor beams, which, in turn, are pin-connected to the superstructure. The truss webs are braced, from the inside, by short, angle-section knee braces that connect the web verticals to
the floor beams. Bottom-lateral bracing consists of crossed eyerods. Originally, the flooring system supported a wood deck accommodating a 15-foot-wide roadway. A portion of a
metal plaque remains on the bridge's southeast endpost, bearing the following inscription: •Built by . .. ecu .. . Mpls, Mn." The plaque indicates that the bridge was the work of the
Security Bridge Company of Minneapolis. At an undetermined date, the bridge's wood deck was removed, and the crossing closed at each end to vehicular traffic by means of an
!-beam barricade resting on the bridge's angle-section railings. This alteration did not significantly affect the pony truss's original half-hip Pratt design. Bridge No. L03942 retains its
Hess, Roise and Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota
:MINNESOTA IHSTORIC BRIDGE INVENfORY
historical integrity.
In 1913, the Minnesota Legislature approved a series of measures that gave the Minnesota Highway Commission control of almost all highway bridge design in the state. A
proponent of standardized bridge construction, the commission prepared a comprehensive set of plans and specifications that mandated the use of specific bridge types for specific
span lengths, defined acceptable and unaoceptable detailing practices, and prescribed construction procedures for both steel and concrete structures. Periodically updated. until
superseded in the late 1920s by similar guidelines issued by the American Association of Highway Officials, the Minnesota Highway Commission's regulations for highway bridge
construction ushered in an era of design uniformity that lasted for the remainder of the twentieth centwy.
Before 1913, Minnesota highway bridge construction was largely in the hands of municipal, township, and county governments. Although a few counties and cities had professional
engineers on staff to prepare bridge plans and superintend construction, most local governments acquired highway bridges through a process of competitive bidding by private
bridge-building firms, which tailored their designs and construction practices to suit the expectations and finances of their clients, as much as to satisfy the physical demands of the
site and the functional requirements of traffic. The result was a wide variety of bridge designs, some well engineered and some not Over the years, the vast majority of these
"non-standard" bridges have been replaced by state-designed structures, but a few still survive. Bridge No. L03942 is among the survivors.
In August 1908, the Crow Wmg County Board of Commissioners decided to build a new road between St Mathias and Fort Ripley, located about five miles to the southwest. Since
the new route required a crossing of the Nokas:ippi River, the board instructed the county auditor "to advertise for bids for said bridge." On the first day of September, the county
commissioners opened proposals from two bridge builders: Security Bridge Company of Minneapolis, and P.G. Fogelstrom, who may have been the agent of another bridge firm.
Fogelstrom submitted one bid for $860. Security Bridge tendered three offers, ranging in price from $800 to $1,025. After a period of discussion, Security Bridge emerged the
victor, receiving a contract for an even more expensive bridge. As recorded in the county board minutes: "Mr. Butler representing the Security Bridge Co. was present and explained
his several plans and suggested a few additional features. A motion was finally made and carried awarding the contract to the Security Bridge Co. to include the aforesaid
improvements, for the sum of$1064.00 [,]work to be completed by Nov. 10, 1908."
Established in Minneapolis in 1906, Security Bridge Company was a reorganization of William S. Hewett and Company, founded in 1898. Hewett, president of both companies, had
been in the bridge-building business in Minneapolis since the 1880s. He remained at the helm of Security Bridge until about 1912, when the company moved its headquarters to
Billings, Montana, and his nephew, Arthur Leslie Hewett, took over operations. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Security Bridge erected highway spans throughout
Minnesota. For the final design of Bridge No. L03942, Security Bridge employed a pin-connected Pratt pony truss variant known as the "half hip" configuration, so-called because
the truss webs omitted the customary vertical member at the hip position. Because the half-hip design used less steel than the conventional Pratt pony truss, it was cheaper to
produce, which made it popular with economy-conscious township and county governments. As indicated by Bridge No. L03942, Security Bridge Company strengthened its
pin-connected half-hip design by knee bracing the vertical members of the web and by using paired angle sections in the lower chord rather than paired eyebars, which typically
appeared in the work of its competitors. Even with this sturdier detailing, the pin-connected, half-hip, Pratt pony truss was unsuitable for the increasingly heavier traffic loads of the
twentieth century. When the Minnesota Highway Commission published its first bridge specifications, it prohibited the use of the design by requiring that all future pony-truss
construction employ the rigid-connected Warren configuration.
Bridge No. L03942 is Minnesota's best surviving example of the Security Bridge Company's design of a pin-connected, half-hip, Pratt pony truss. It is eligible for the National
Register under Criterion C in the area of engineering, within the historic context of "Historic Iron and Steel Bridges in Minnesota." The Multiple Property Documentation Form
associated with this context states, under Registration Criterion 5, that a bridge may be eligible for the National Register if it was "built by an important Minnesota Bridge Builder,"
and it lists Security Bridge Company as one of the state's most significant firms during the early twentieth century.
References :
Minnesota Department of Transportation Bridge Database; Bridge No. L03942 File in Minnesota Department of Transportation, Waters Edge Building, Roseville; Bridge No.
L03942 File in Crow Wing County Highway Depar1ment, Brainerd, Minnesota; "An Act Relating to Public Highways" (Chapter 23 5), General Laws of the State ofMinnesota ...
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MINNESOTA mSTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY
1913 (St. Paul: The Pioneer Company, 1913), 290-329~ Minnesota Highway Commission, Report, 1912-1913, 9-11 ~ Minnesota Highway Commission, Standard Specifications
for Steel and Concrete Highway Bridges, 1912~ Crow Wing CoWlty Board of Commissioners, Proceedings, 4 August, I September 1908, in Crow Wmg County Courthouse,
Brainerd; Fredric L. Quivik, "Montana's Minneapolis Bridge Builders," /A: Journal of the Society ofIndustrial Archeology I0 (No. I, 1984): 37 -45~ Fredric L. Quivik, "Iron and
Steel Bridges in Minnesota," Multiple Property Docwnentation Form, 1988, Sec. F, 9, in State Historic Preservation Office, Minnesota Historical Society, St Paul~ field inspection
by ShawnP. RolDlds, 18 September 1995.
~orm Prepared By:
Jeffrey A Hess
Hess, Raise and Compmry, Minneapolis, Minnesota