Bridge No 79

The area was originally part of the George W. Baird farm, but in the 1920s much of the farmstead was sold off for development. In 1922, the Edina Country Club housing subdivision was platted, just north of the bridge and north of 50th Street. The Edina Country Club, west of the bridge, was opened in 1923, and other portions of Edina were being developed as well. As traffic increased, the original steel beam bridge was no longer sufficient to accommodate all the vehicles, so the city of Edina sought a replacement in 1937. On March 8, 1937, the Edina City Council accepted the proposal by Lyle Culvert & Pipe Company to build an Armco multi-plate arch bridge. The facing was proposed to be…

The bridge is 21 ft long, has a span length of 18 ft, and a width of 40.4 ft. It is faced with Platteville limestone. The multi-plate arch bridge design was introduced in 1931 by the Armco Culvert Manufacturer's Association. The plates are made of galvanized corrugated steel, manufactured in curved segments, and assembled on site to build an arch. The corrugations, about 6 in wide and 1.5 in deep, formed a very strong bridge. The multi-plate arch design was popular in the 1930s as an alternative to reinforced concrete slab-and-girder construction for bridges with a short span. The bridge could also be assembled by unskilled labor, and the stone masonry was labor-intensive, so the Works…