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Opening of the First Permanent Span

Name: Opening of the First Permanent Span
Start: 1855-01-23
Location: Nicollet Island

When: 1855-01-23
Where: Nicollet Island
Part of: First bridge over the Mississippi River opens at Minneapolis

The first permanent bridge across the Mississippi River opened as a toll bridge in Minneapolis on January 23, 1855.

This crossing connected the west bank of the Mississippi River to Nicollet Island. It was the first permanent span across the river, establishing a precedent for future infrastructure at the site. The bridge held historic value for the City of Minneapolis, serving as the foundation for subsequent structures.

Sources

Hennepin Avenue Bridge Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-05

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.