Historic Kern Bridge, now refurbished, to be installed at new location in Mankato
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A bridge that’s almost as old as Minnesota is getting a new life in a new location on Monday.
The historic, 189-foot-long Kern Bridge, was lifted off its crumbling abutments along the Le Sueur River nearly six years ago with two heavy cranes. It had spanned the river south of Mankato since it was built in 1873, only 15 years after Minnesota became a state.
Since being removed in 2020, the unique truss bridge has been restored. Weather permitting, construction crews plan to install the bridge Monday over the Blue Earth River, connecting Land of Memories Park on one side of the river with Sibley Park on the other side, allowing visitors to walk, jog or bicycle over it from one park to the other.
The crews will start rigging the bridge Monday morning and then cranes will lift and set the wrought iron structure on newly constructed concrete piers. The work is expected to finish around noon.
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“There's been a lot of planning and kind of preparation for this moment,” said Cory Bienfang, Mankato’s city engineer. “The idea of preserving a historic bridge like this, reconditioning it, and allowing, for it then, to serve a new use, I would say, is the real uniqueness to this current bridge project.”
Bienfang said there is still some remaining work left to do over the next few months to put the decking and railings on the Kern bridge before it can open for public use this fall. The bridge rehabilitation and placement in its new location was estimated to cost about $10.5 million, with about 75 percent of the funding coming from state and federal grants. Funding from Mankato’s city parks budget and local sales tax revenue covered the rest of the cost.
The city of Mankato has asked residents to not come to the new bridge site to watch the bridge installation Monday for safety reasons. The city will provide a live stream of the installation work.
The Kern Bridge — also known as Yaeger Bridge — carried people, wagons and farm animals and then cars until it shut down to traffic in the early 1900s. When it reopens, the bridge will serve as a pedestrian and bike crossing over the Blue Earth River.
It’s the only example of a “bowstring arch through-truss” bridge remaining in Minnesota and the oldest bridge of its type still intact in the entire country. The Kern Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation and Blue Earth County saved the bridge from being demolished. MnDOT had offered the bridge to other cities and counties to use as a pedestrian or bike trail amenity. Since there were no takers, the bridge had been sitting in storage containers for a little over five years, while also being restored.
