Pine Street Bridge

Concrete gave local builders a way in. Out-of-state steel companies had all but monopolized South Dakota's truss bridges, but the bridge's National Register nomination notes they never cornered concrete, where local contractors competed and won. The council condemned the deteriorating crossing at Pine in February 1912, and Hugh Liebe's plan was essentially the design he had drawn a year earlier for Walnut Street. Arthur Ellerman and Dan McLain, the low bidders, had built that bridge too. The Walnut Street arch, the older sibling, came off the National Register in 2008.

What the plaque says

Pine Street Bridge In February 1912, the Yankton City Council approved city engineer Hugh C. Liebe's plan for a new concrete arch bridge at Pine Street over Rhine Creek (later renamed Marne Creek during World War I). In April, the council awarded a $3,700 construction contract to local contractors Arthur Ellerman and Dan McLain. In September 1912, using emerging concrete construction methods, Ellerman and McLain completed the 41-foot, single-span, reinforced concrete deck arch bridge with Classical Revival detailing. The bridge's railings consisted of spindle-shaped balusters set off by concrete posts ornamented with recessed panels. This was the last of four Rhine Creek bridges— others built in 1908-1911 at Douglas, Burleigh, and Walnut Streets— that were the earliest known concrete bridges built in the state. The bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on December 13, 1999, as an early example of concrete deck arch bridge construction built by a South Dakota engineer and contractors in an experimental era before the state standardized design and methods. However, following the return of adverse structural assessments, the 1912 bridge was demolished in 2018. Completed for service on November 14, 2018, the replacement was designed to reference the aesthetic of the historic 1912 bridge.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spirit Mound Historic Prairie — 22 mi
  A lone hill north of Vermillion that Lewis and Clark walked to on a scorching day in 1804, now one of the few places left where you can stand exactly where they stood.

More markers nearby

• Christ Church — steps away
• First Territorial Capital — 0.2 mi
• Trial of Jack McCall For Murder of Wild Bill — 0.3 mi
• Charles Francois Picotte — 0.3 mi