On Sunday, August 10th, 1947, Grandpa Ames took a trip up to Hastings, MN. I'm not sure who all went on the trip with him; the photo album offers no clues. Here are some photos from that trip.
August 10th, 1947 looks like it was a beautiful summer day...
This is a picture of the Spiral Bridge in Hastings. The bridge was built in 1895 with a spiral design to either slow down horse-drawn traffic from the other side of the river as it entered downtown or to gain the necessary elevation so the bridge could terminate in downtown instead of outside of town. I tend to think the idea that it was to slow down horse-drawn traffic seems a little far-fetched. In any case, by 1951 the bridge was rusted and in a poor state of repair. Due to weight restrictions, school buses had to stop on the far side of the river and kids had to walk over. That doesn't sound like much fun to me. The Spiral Bridge was torn down and replaced with a modern bridge in 1951, 4 years after this photo was taken.
The next two pictures where taken from the Spiral Bridge.
I really love old pictures of landmarks and everyday life. Grandpa's albums are full of this sort of stuff and I intend to scan these pictures along with pictures of relatives.
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2 comments:
They are great photos, Chris, and I'm glad you have them and that they bring you joy. By the way, our family drove over that bridge many times when I was a little girl. I remember it. My Aunt Liz has a professional photo of it on one of the walls in her home. I'm sure you could see in on the Internet if you Googled it.
Chris, These photos are fantastic. I live in Hastings and have made a few composite images using old pictures of the spiral bridge combined with how it looks now. Do you have any other views of the bridge? I've only found a few here at City Hall and the Minnesota Hist. Society.
The composites are here: www.middletowndreams.net and here www.middletowncreative.com if you'd like to take a look.
Cheers! Andy
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