Yankton’s Last Historic Marne Creek Bridge Faces Demolition

The Pine Street bridge is the last historic structure of its kind to cross Marne Creek, and it is likely to be replaced within the next few years.

The Pine Street bridge in July 2016. The 1912 structure is the last of its era to cross Marne Creek in Yankton.

A very similar bridge along Walnut Street — dating from 1911 — was demolished in 1999. Other historic bridges met their fate earlier, such as the Capital Street bridge.

Built in 1912, the Pine Street bridge is a 41-foot, single-span, deck, concrete arch structure with classical revival detailing that crosses Marne Creek in a residential neighborhood. The railings consist of spindle-shaped balusters set off by concrete posts ornamented with recessed panels.

For several years, The Pine Street bridge has had load limits so restrictive that school buses, snow plows, garbage trucks and even lighter trucks cannot cross the structure. Brosz Engineering of Sioux Falls has studied the bridge for the City of Yankton and deemed it structurally deficient and in need of replacement.

The Pine Street bridge last underwent a major renovation in 1986. This clipping is from the Yankton Press & Dakotan.

Recently, the South Dakota Transportation Commission awarded an $854,904.60 Bridge Improvement Grant to the City of Yankton to be used toward the anticipated $1,424,842 replacement of the Pine Street bridge.

The structure has been on my mind recently because I met with a group of people representing various historic organizations seeking to have a voice in the bridge’s future as part of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit process. They had good questions, reasonable expectations and together represented a passionate voice that has spearheaded many decades worth of preservation efforts within our community. Of course, if possible, they would like to see the bridge renovated. At the very least, they are requesting that the City of Yankton provide acknowledgement of the current bridge’s historic legacy in a new project design.

Because of the condition of the bridge, I am doubtful that renovation is possible. As someone who has a deep appreciation for history and has enjoyed delving into Yankton’s rich past, that’s painful for me to say. However, I am hopeful that we can work some nice features into a new bridge project that are befitting of the current Pine Street crossing. At least a couple of my peers on the Yankton City Commission expressed the same desire during a recent capital improvement project budget session.

We’ll see what the future holds. The City of Yankton plans to seek input from the aforementioned historic groups as the engineering process continues.

All that being said, I thought you might enjoy this excerpt from the Pine Street bridge nomination for the National Register of Historic Places:

By the early 1910s, reinforced concrete came into use in South Dakota for the construction of bridges. The earliest concrete bridges in South Dakota were built in the southeastern portion of the state, and many, if not all of these structures were professionally designed. However, while the construction of steel bridges had been monopolized by out-of-state firms. These same out-of-state steel bridge companies never seemed to monopolize the concrete bridge building market. Instead, many local contractors successfully competed in this aspect of the bridge building business.

In February 1912, the Yankton City Council condemned a deteriorating bridge over Rhine Creek (soon to be renamed Marne Creek) at Pine Street, “declaring the necessity for the construction of a new bridge at said place and directing the Mayor to borrow funds with which to defray the cost of making such improvement.” That same month, the council approved for the site a concrete-arch plan prepared by city engineer Hugh C. Liebe, who had essentially the same design a year earlier at Walnut Street. Two months later, the council awarded a $3,700 construction contract to low bidders Arthur Ellerman and Dan McLain, local contractors who had built the Walnut Street Bridge. Ellerman and McLain completed the project in September 1912.

 

The Meridian Bridge Is Alive (And Growing As An Attraction)

The Meridian Bridge is alive.

It is growing, evolving — becoming more and more of a gathering place and attraction.

The latest evidence of that was the successful first installment of the City of Yankton’s “Music at the Meridian” series last week.

In the distance, you can see Omaha Street Percussion performing. More importantly, notice all the people gathered in the Meridian Plaza!

As a Yankton City Commissioner and Yankton citizen, I was beaming with pride at the work our Parks and Recreation Department did to bring more than 200 people to the foot of the Meridian Bridge to enjoy music and food, as well as awe at the wonderful natural view. If you didn’t make it to the first concert, plan to attend one of the shows from 6-8 p.m. on Thursdays throughout July.

The bridge has also grown in other small but fascinating ways.

People continue to adorn the bridge with locks of love, a custom that interweaves humanity into the very fabric of the steel and concrete structure and becomes an attraction all its own.

The National Park Service has developed educational displays that provide people with background on the natural and historical elements of the area.

The Yankton Parks and Recreation Department collaborated with the Yankton Community Library (and a variety of sponsors) to create Story Walk, a series of children’s book panels that encourage children and adults to exercise while also enjoying a story.

The new campground on the Nebraska side of the river has also changed the Meridian Bridge experience. While I sometimes miss the serene environment that portion of the walk once represented, I now can also find charm in the human activity that takes place there. People sing songs, enjoy the beach and cook over campfires. These are activities that represent a joyous part of the human experience and, even being on the periphery of those activities, I find the joy contagious.

What else can you do at the Meridian Bridge? Run through a splash pad, play a xylophone, enjoy flowers and much, much more!

All of this is a long way of saying how fortunate I feel to have such an amenity in my back yard. The experience of walking the Meridian Bridge and taking in the vistas of the Missouri River never fails to inspire introspection and gratefulness. The act of making that voyage on a regular basis is, I think, a prescription for becoming a better human being. And I’m glad so many people from near and far are partaking in it.