In the mid-19th century, the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers brought people to the confluence but also kept them apart. As settlers arrived, three villages developed where the rivers met. Newcomers had to choose the riverbank where they would live and do business. In 1869, the first permanent bridge crossed the Chippewa, linking two of the villages at what later became Grand Avenue.
Frequent fires and floods in the "sawdust city" days often damaged bridges. The 1884 flood took out five. Bridge technology was limited, too. Fearing damage to local bridges, the City of Eau Claire threatened a fine for driving a horse across a bridge "at more than a walk."
Eau Claire's bridges have been built and rebuilt. In 1899, Minnie McDonough christened a third Grand Avenue bridge. Floods had destroyed its predecessors.
In time, Eau Claire's bridges not only helped citizens cross the waters; they also unified the original villages into one city.
...the east and west sides ran neck and neck with the keenest rivalry between them, both business and otherwise. ...if an east side boy went over on the west side he stood a good chance of getting a thrashing and if a west side boy went to the east side the courtesy would be returned.
William Bartlett, Chippewa Valley Historical Society Meeting, 1926
Honoring Our Parents Louis and Miriam Arnold, Bridge Builders
[Caption on photograph:]This photograph was taken just north of this spot in 1882. Built in 1880, the bridge passed its 125th anniversary in 2005. Wisconsin Historical Society collections.
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