Volume 12 Issue 3 April 2016

Community Life
Heritage Committee Update: So Long
to the St. George’s Island Bridge
By Manfred Baum
All the recent activity around the St, George’s Island Bridge (also
called the 12th St or Zoo Bridge) is bringing the stark reality that
our beloved historic bridge will soon be removed and replaced by
a modernistic one.
The bridge’s history is intertwined with three islands in the Bow
River (St. George’s, St. Andrew’s and St. Patrick’s), and Inglewood.
Between 1888 and 1895, the islands were leased to the City by
the federal government. Various attempts were made to connect
them to land by boat or ferry without much success. In 1895, on
the suggestion of William Pearce, the islands were donated to
the City for park use on a condition. The condition was to build
a bridge to connect the islands to land. This condition was met in
1908 when the St. George’s Island Bridge was completed.
The bridge is a Parker Camelback through-truss bridge which is
one of four in the City. The steel apparently came from an easternbased
Canadian company, Algoma Steel Bridge Company. In fact,
the Algoma sign was on the bridge until recently. However, new
research has discovered that some of the steel may have come
from an American company. The bridge is a single truss. Similar to
the current bridge, there was a long approach but it was primarily
made of wood. Looking at the Bow River now, one wonders
why the bridge was a single truss with a very long approach. The
simple reason was that the single truss covered the water at the
time. Land covered the area from the bank to the steel bridge.
With the development of the bridge, the islands became a popular
leisure site. One of the first major structures on St. George’s
Island was a bandstand from 1912-1949. A collection of animals
started to be kept on the island resulting in the Calgary Zoological
Society in 1929 bringing even more people over the bridge.
Changes were done over time to make the bridge better for
the increased traffic and age. In 1972/1973, the Bow River was
widened on the south bank for flood mitigation. This resulted in
the current concrete approach. About a decade ago, the bridge
was upgraded for the last time. After the 2013 flood, the historic
bridge was deemed unsafe and the City decided that it along
with the Ninth Avenue Bridge should be replaced.
The bridge will remain open for local island traffic for some of
the time while the new one is being built. By the end of December
next year, the new bridge will be open and the old one
will be removed. Sadly, none of the historic elements of the old
bridge will be added to the new one, either real or faux. There is
a continuing discussion between the community and the City on
these concerns. Hopefully, some elements will be added and the
new bridge will have a great gateway into Inglewood. I will definitely
miss the old bridge that I walked across for many years.
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