The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railway Bridge Listed in the National Register of Historic Places

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railway Bridge in the National Register of Historic Places on September 4, 2024. The building was constructed in 1881 in the city of Eau Claire, Eau Claire County. 

The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railway Bridge is located 82 feet above the Chippewa River, south of the Dells Dam and about seven blocks north of downtown Eau Claire. Commonly referred to as the High Bridge, it has statewide significance as a distinctive and intact example of an iron lattice deck truss railway bridge, an unusual type of deck truss bridge. The complex lattice truss structure gives the bridge stability as well as an aesthetic quality that is rarely found in Wisconsin. Iron truss bridges were an important innovation in bridge building in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and engineers developed many types of truss designs, including the lattice truss.

The High Bridge was constructed by the Leighton Bridge and Iron Works Company in 1881 for the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railway. The bridge sits on five substantial triangular piers constructed of Kasota limestone, a distinctive stone quarried near Mankato, Minnesota, about 80 miles southwest of Minneapolis. In 1898, the spans were replaced with steel deck plate girders, completing the structure that remains today. The bridge was used for railroad traffic until 1992, when the railroad discontinued its use.

It was acquired by the city of Eau Claire, and in 2015, it was converted to a pedestrian bridge. The track was removed, and wood decking, railings, and light fixtures were installed. In 2021, structural damage to the deck and stone piers was found, and repair of these elements was completed in 2022 by the city of Eau Claire. In 2023, the project won a Board of Curators Historic Preservation and Historic Restoration Award. Today, High Bridge still evokes the look of a historic railroad bridge and is frequented by pedestrians and bicyclists.

Additional information for the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railway Bridge is available at: https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2607

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: https://wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register/

About the Wisconsin Historical Society

The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. The Wisconsin Historical Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, receives grants and private contributions benefitting the Wisconsin Historical Society and administers the membership program. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.