On this day in history, January 23, 1855, a cable suspension bridge opened between Minneapolis and Nicollet Island, marking the first permanent span over the main channel of the Mississippi River.
The bridge could be crossed by paying a toll of three cents (one way) or five cents (round trip) per human foot-passenger, fifteen cents per horse, and two cents per head for sheep.
The Father Louis Hennepin Bridge, built in 1855, was a pioneering transportation link over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.
Constructed by the Mississippi Bridge Company and engineered by Thomas W. Griffith, the cable suspension bridge connected Nicollet Island to the banks on either side above St. Anthony Falls.
It was the first permanent crossing of the Mississippi in the area. The bridge opened with great fanfare on January 23, 1855 and charged tolls to cross. However, safety and capacity issues soon arose as Minneapolis and St. Anthony experienced rapid growth.
In 1869, Hennepin County assumed ownership of the aging bridge. Just north, a new Hennepin suspension bridge opened in 1877, rendering the original obsolete.