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Photograph of Mendota Bridge
Photograph by McGhiever, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Fort Snelling-Mendota Bridge

Built in 1926. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

From the record

“The Mendota Bridge, in the US state of Minnesota carries State Highways 55 and 62 over the Minnesota River between Fort Snelling and Mendota Heights. It is the final bridge over the Minnesota River before the Minnesota flows into the Mississippi River at the "Meeting of the waters" or "Mendota" in the Dakota language.”

Wikipedia article Mendota Bridge, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 40 National Register listings published here for Dakota County · listed in 1978 · category: Structure · built in 1926.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. MN 55 over Mississippi River, Mendota, 55120
  • When was it listed? December 1978
  • Category. structure
  • City. Mendota Heights city
  • When was it built? 1926
  • National Register reference number. 78001534 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

45 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 45 fires within 5 miles of Fort Snelling-Mendota Bridge between 1998 and 2019, burning about 1,248 acres in total. None started naturally. 8 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Recreation and ceremony22
Arson/incendiarism8
Railroad operations and maintenance8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
24 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeBOARDWALK
26 August 2011Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeBASS PONDS 3
20 August 2008Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeIKES
17 August 2005Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeCLEVELAND
13 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeBLUE WATER
7 July 2013Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeCEDAR AVE 3
5 July 2011Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeBASS PONDS 1
3 July 2006Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMinnesota Valley National Wildlife RefugeBASS 2

Every fire recorded in Dakota County

Mines and quarries near this property

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Fort Snelling-Mendota Bridge: 1 occurrence, 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Clay, Kaolin. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Twin City Brick Co. Clay PitKaolinProducerKaolinite
Dakota County Clay DepositClayOccurrence
Twin City Brick Co PitClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in Dakota County

Storms near this property

5 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mendota, the town this property stands in, in 5 storm reports between 2012 and 2024: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
November 2012Thunderstorm WindMendota$100,000A storm survey revealed that straight line winds of 65 mph were associated with the rear flank downdraft from the tornado that dissipated at the Lost Spur Golf Course. These severe winds blew shingles off a hotel roof and knocked down trees from near Interstate 494 and Pilot Knob Road, northeast to a business community.
November 2012Tornado (EF0)Mendota$50,000A brief EF-0 tornado spun up near Skyline Drive, east of Highway 13, and tracked north-northeast to the Lost Spur Golf Course just south of Interstate 494. The tornado tracked for two blocks in a heavily wooded residential area before moving across a small golf course as it dissipated. Numerous large trees and power lines were blown down along the path of approximately one-half mile.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindMendota-Large pine tree uprooted and leaning on power lines.
September 2015Flash FloodMendota-Several reports of stalled cars along I-35 from Eagan, northeast to West St. Paul. This was noted on Minnesota Department of Transportation Webcams that noted the stalled cars and deep water in the roadway.
September 2016HailMendota-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dakota County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Mendota Historic District0.4 miles1970
Fort Snelling0.5 miles1966
Henry H. Sibley House0.6 miles1972
Oheyawahe-Pilot Knob0.8 miles2017
George W. Wentworth House5.2 miles1979
Caponi Art Park5.8 miles2025

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 78001534 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Dakota CountyAll 40 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.