page_title: Monroe Street Bridge (Spokane River)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Monroe Street Bridge (Spokane River) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Monroe Street bridge, the first one built, 1889. Spokane, WA
context_page_description: The Monroe Street Bridge is a deck arch bridge in the northwestern United States that spans the Spokane River in Spokane, Washington. It was built 109 years ago in 1911 by the city of Spokane, and was designed by city engineer John Chester Ralston, assisted in construction supervision by Morton McCarthy with ornamentation provided by the firm of Kirtland Kelsey Cutter and Karl G. Malmgren as part of Cutter & Malmgren.
  At completion, it was the largest concrete arch bridge in the U.S. and the third longest in the world. After more than ninety years of service, it was closed in January 2003 for restoration and reopened in September 2005.
context_section_description: The current bridge of 1911 is the third in this location. The first, a rather rickety wooden structure, was built in 1889. It was closed for a time due to arguments in the city over rights of passage and ownership, and burned down in 1890. The second was a steel bridge that opened in 1892. It vibrated badly and had a noticeable dip in the center. A consultant from the Good Roads Movement considered the bridge unsafe in 1905.
  The design of the third bridge was largely copied from the Rocky River Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio, but was built one foot (0.3 m) longer to make it the largest concrete arch in the U.S. at the time. In turn, the Rocky River Bridge was modeled after the Walnut Lane Bridge in Philadelphia, which was modeled after the Adolphe Bridge in Luxembourg.
  The Monroe Street bridge was designed with ornamental features such as bison skulls, covered pavilions, and a chain-link railing motif. The bison skull was an inspiration of P. C. Shine, who had found it in Alberta at Drumheller in the early 1900s. Located just west of the Falls, the bridge runs due north-south and opened on November 23, 1911.
caption: Monroe Street Bridge in 1889
exif: {}