National Register of Historic Places

Stillwater Bridge

Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota
Listed
May 24, 1989
Type
Structure
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
89000445

About this property

The Stillwater Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge crossing the St. Croix River between Stillwater, Minnesota, and Houlton, Wisconsin, United States. It formerly connected Minnesota State Highway 36 and Wisconsin Highway 64. Around 18,000 vehicles crossed the bridge daily. The new St. Croix Crossing bridge crossing the St. Croix river valley to the south of Stillwater replaced its purpose, having opened to highway traffic on August 2, 2017, leaving the Stillwater Lift Bridge to be preserved and to be converted to bicycle/pedestrian use. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 for having state-level significance in the theme of engineering. It was nominated for being a rare surviving example of a vertical-lift highway bridge based on the designs pioneered by Waddell & Harrington. The Stillwater Lift Bridge was one of two bridges on the St. Croix River between the Interstate 94 bridge in Hudson, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Highway 8 bridge in Taylors Falls, Minnesota, providing a popular and useful alternative to those crossings. (The other bridge is the Highway 243 bridge at Osceola, Wisconsin.) The bridge consists of seven fixed steel truss spans 1,050 feet (320 m) long in total, including a vertically lifting span 140 feet (43 m) long. It is 23 feet (7.0 m) wide, allowing one lane of traffic in each direction. The lifting span is a Waddell & Harrington type, one of six built in Minnesota and Wisconsin and one of three still remaining today. Built in 1931 to replace a swing bridge from 1910, it was the last bridge of this design to be built in the area. Minnesota and Wisconsin evenly split the $460,174 cost of the bridge.

Location

Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota
45.05733, -92.80031

Categories

ENGINEERING
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Freight House
Industrial
0.3 mi
Webster, Mortimer, House
Industrial
0.4 mi
St. Croix Lumber Mills-Stillwater Manufacturing Company
Industrial
0.4 mi
Stillwater Commercial Historic District
Industrial
0.4 mi
Minnesota Territorial-State Prison Warden's House
Early Republic
0.5 mi

Questions about this property

When was Stillwater Bridge listed on the National Register?

Stillwater Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 24, 1989.

What type of historic resource is Stillwater Bridge?

Stillwater Bridge is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Stillwater Bridge?

The period of significance for Stillwater Bridge is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Stillwater Bridge?

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