Complied by Monica Wooton,
Magnolia Historical Society Board Member
Magnolia, because of its isolation, waterways and hilly terrain had its share of wooden trestles, eight major ones documented, which were a phenomenon of the late 1800 and early 1900’s. The now 86 year old “new” Magnolia Bridge came about because of a trestle disaster and community fight to get it.
What happened here was not uncommon a fate of these structures. Hal Will in his chapter “Magnolia’s Wooden Trestles”, in Magnolia: Memories & Milestones defines the structures “…as cross-braced wood structures of timbers or piling to carry pedestrian, railroad or other vehicle traffic. They typically do not span very long open spaces without a bridge truss. Seattle?s shorelines were laced with trestles in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Timber was plentiful and trestle construction was a well-known trade.”?
“…The most destructive day for Magnolia trestles was June 30, 1924. The next day The Seattle Times reported: ?SEATTLE BRIDGES BURN, Replacements Will Cost City $250,000.? A fire on the Lawton Way trestle, believed to have been started by sparks from a steam locomotive, was brought under control within an hour but it broke bounds later and spread to the Wheeler Street trestle, virtually destroying it. In all, about 12 or 15 blocks of trestle were destroyed and the remainder of the structures was declared a total loss. Magnolians were again totally dependent on the Dravus Street trestle or the Garfield Street/23rd Avenue West trestles. This situation was to last almost five years.”
The resulting fight for the building of the new poured concrete Garfield Street Bridge, now called the Magnolia Bridge lasted for about 5 years and was not to be opened until 1930. Now, again, a new Magnolia Bridge design, decided upon in a 4 year process from 2002-2006 (brought on by questions of safety because of natural disasters and extensive repairs to the Bridge) still sits, another 9 years passing, with no current plans by the City to go ahead and replace it due to the inability to get the funding.
The Magnolia Bridge, now 86 years old itself, finally rises in 1930, after the Wheeler Street Bridge, a complex structure of wooden trestles and the primary way to get to Magnolia burned to the ground, nearly 6 years earlier. Photo 1930, Seattle Engineering Department #8880
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