The History of the Rock Island Bridge with Herb Reckinger Jr.

Photo by Louis M via TripAdvisor

Herb Reckinger Jr. presents on the Rock Island Bridge, a swing bridge with lots of history located in Inver Grove Heights!

About the event:

The Rock Island Bridge was a swing bridge connecting Inver Grove Heights in Dakota County to Washington County at St Paul Park and Newport. The bridge was very unique. It had an upper railroad deck and a lower passenger deck that somehow was barely able to allow automobiles to pass. It was built before the Spiral Bridge in Hastings (and before the automobile age) and lasted longer than the Wakota Bridge. The bridge had at least 6 names, depending on your allegiance to your town, your railroad company or the toll takers name. There will be numerous photos that will be projected from the origins of the bridge, until the unglamorous demolition and the partial reconstruction in 2011.

About Herb Reckinger Jr.:

I grew up in South St Paul and worked at the Erickson Refinery on our side of the river, since 1966. In 1974 we moved to Cottage Grove, but I still used that bridge until its last days. I retired in 2010. I used that bridge until 1999. So, I have a lot of first-hand knowledge of the bridge.