Safety was a concern during the construction of the second Hennepin Avenue suspension bridge in 1876. In this front page brief, the Tribune reported the arrival of an agent for a company that supplied cables rejected as inadequate by the project engineer, Thomas Griffith. The bridge was completed later that year, presumably with a better grade of cable.

The grand structure, which featured castle-like stone towers, outlived its usefulness rather quickly and had to be replaced just 14 years later. The bases of the towers can be seen today at First Bridge Park on the Mississippi River’s west bank, about a mile upriver from the 35W bridge that collapsed this week.

The reference to Robellings Sons is in error; the writer probably was referring to Roebling Sons, a company founded by John A. Roebling, who designed the Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883.

THURSDAY, JUNE 29

We understand that the agent of the firm who furnished the wire for the suspension bridge, which Engineer Griffith has condemned, will be in the city tonight. The firm – Robellings Sons – is an old established one, and no doubt their agent will endeavor to convince the city fathers that the wire they have forwarded is all right, but we trust that the latter will sustain Engineer Griffith in the bold stand he has taken for the protection of his own reputation and the interests of the city. The wire is not fit to be used in the construction of the bridge, and the parties furnishing it should be given to understand at once that it will not be received or used.

The second Hennepin Avenue suspension bridge, 1889. (mnhs.org photo)

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