The
Hennepin Avenue Bridge is the structure that carries Hennepin County State Aid Highway 52,
Hennepin Avenue, across the
Mississippi River in
Minneapolis, Minnesota at
Nicollet Island. Officially, it is the
Father Louis Hennepin Bridge, in honor of the 17th-century explorer
Louis Hennepin, who was the first European to discover the
Saint Anthony Falls a short distance downriver. Two of the three previous structures have been
suspension bridges, while a third—which existed nearly a century—was composed of
steel arch spans. The original crossing, which opened as a
toll bridge on January 23, 1855, is believed to have been the first permanent span across the Mississippi at any point. Other bridges were completed in 1876, 1891, and most recently 1990. Today, the bridge's main span is in length, making it rather small by modern standards.