Bridge No. 5757

Bridge No. 5757
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	MN 23 over Mission Cr., Duluth, Minnesota
Coordinates	46°39′38″N 92°16′32″W / 46.66056°N 92.27556°WCoordinates: 46°39′38″N 92°16′32″W / 46.66056°N 92.27556°W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1937
Architect	Bodin, A.A., and Sons; Minnesota Highway Department
Architectural style	Multi-plate arch
MPS	Iron and Steel Bridges in Minnesota MPS
NRHP Reference #	98000720[1]
Added to NRHP	June 26, 1998

Bridge No. 5757 is a bridge on Minnesota State Highway 23 in Duluth, Minnesota listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge, spanning Mission Creek, is in the Fond du Lac neighborhood of Duluth. The bridge was built in 1937 by A. Bodin and Co. It is a double-span, multi-plate arch culvert with granite headwalls. The creek flows through two 20 feet (6.1 m) metal culverts that are 115 feet (35 m) wide.^[2]

The bridge has several ornamental features that distinguish it from an ordinary highway bridge. The headwalls and railings are faced with roughly-cut granite rubble in various colors of gray, pink, and tan. The headwalls continue above the roadway to form the railings, which have narrow lancet-like openings that evoke a late Gothic Revival design. While the bridge resembles Federal Relief projects of the 1930s, it was not actually built by a Federal Relief organization such as the Works Progress Administration or the Civilian Conservation Corps. Instead, it was designed by the Minnesota Department of Highways (now the Minnesota Department of Transportation), probably with their chief landscape architect Arthur R. Nichols. It resembles the National Park Service Rustic style popular in Federal Relief architecture, and the excellent stonework is typical of that used in the labor-intensive construction projects of that era.^[2]

A 0.75 miles (1.21 km) section of Highway 23 through this area was built as a wide, shaded, parkway-like divided highway. This portion is also known as Veterans' Evergreen Memorial Highway in the Fond du Lac neighborhood of Duluth.^[2]

References

1. National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. "MnDOT Historic Roadside Development Structures Inventory: Fond du Lac Culvert (Bridge 5757)" (PDF). Minnesota Department of Transportation. 1998. Retrieved 2009-09-10.