Historic Bridges

St. Alban's Bay Culvert

History and significance

The St. Alban's Bay Culvert is a small Rustic Style bridge built in 1938-1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on the west shore of Mille Lacs Lake in Crow Wing County. The bridge carries U.S. Highway 169 over a small, unnamed stream. The bridge has headwalls, wing walls, and parapet railings built of granite quarried near Isle at the south end of the lake. At the core of the structure is a 4-foot concrete box culvert. The bridge was built as part of the Mille Lacs Lake Highway Development Plan, an unusual National Park Service-Minnesota Department of Highways (MHD) effort to develop a scenic parkway along the west shore of the lake. Men enrolled in a CCC camp at nearby Garrison implemented the Plan, completing four stone bridges, three wayside rests, and several miles of highway landscaping.

St. Alban's Bay Culvert is significant as an important and well preserved component of the Mille Lacs Lake Highway Development Plan. It is an excellent example of the National Park Service Rustic Style, displaying the distinctive use of local granite and representing a high level of craftsmanship.

Location

Garrison Township (Crow Wing County)
Latitude, Longitude: 46.2726628, -93.8216898

Bridge features