Grand Rapids is a city divided by the Grand River. In its earliest days, settlers crossed the river in small boats or canoes, or on frozen ice during the winter and on temporary footbridges in the summer.

The need to tie the city together led to three distinct periods of bridge-building. During the first period, construction and operation were private undertakings. By the 1850s, covered wooden toll bridges had been built at Bridge, Pearl, and Leonard Streets.

The coming of the railroad created the need for additional bridges. The first railroad bridge built north of Leonard Street in 1858, was followed by several others in the next three decades.

The second phase of street bridge building began in the 1880’s when the city assumed responsibility for building and operating bridges free of charge. The old wooden toll bridges were replaced with wrought iron structures built at Leonard, Fulton, Pearl, Sixth, and Bridge streets. Of these, only the Sixth Street Bridge remains, now a designated historic landmark.

In the third bridge-building phase, during the early 1900s, modern bridges made of reinforced concrete were placed Marker at Wealthy, Bridge, Ann, Leonard, Pearl, and Fulton.

Today, seven street bridges, two pedestrian walkways, three expressway bridges, and three railroad bridges span the Grand River in Grand Rapids. The two pedestrian walkways have been adapted to their present use. The one on which our video this week ends was originally built for trolley cars, and, to the south, a former railroad bridge has been renovated by Grand Valley State University for pedestrian use.