The Bridge

"This abandoned steel truss bridge spanning the Assiniboine River in Winnipeg was commissioned in 1907 by the Canadian Northern Railway as part of their Oak Point Subdivision. The project received municipal and provincial funding, in part, to encourage accommodation for pedestrians and non-rail vehicular traffic. The bridge sat on four concrete piers and measured some 440 feet long, with a swing span mounted atop the pier in the middle of the river. Construction was completed in time for rail traffic to begin using it by mid-May 1908. Dr. Hinman and J. McLaren of the Strathcona Hotel were the first non-railway users, taking a horse team across the bridge on 8 September 1908, and it was opened officially to non-rail traffic a few days later.

Conditions for non-rail traffic were less than ideal, as indicated by a statement of the Winnipeg Parks Board in May 1913 in which the bridge was called a “death trap.” A decade later, a St. James engineer echoed those sentiments by labelling it “dangerous” to vehicular traffic. Improvements were made as demand for a non-rail crossing continued to mount, eventually leading to construction of the St. James Bridge.

The Oak Point Subdivision was eventually decommissioned and the rails were removed in the late 1990s. In 2003, the bridge was purchased by architect Alec Katz with plans to convert it into river-spanning condominiums. In spite of municipal support for the project, the plan was ultimately thwarted by local residents. The bridge was put up for sale in 2009 but, as of 2017, the structure and portions of its north and south approaches remain in the same private hands."