A century of service from the Holmfield Bridge
BY KIM LANGEN
History was unmade this week, as an elegant, short span bridge over the Long River was being taken apart after nearly 100 years of solid service.
The beautiful Holmfield Bridge, with its curved and golden lichen-encrusted cement bows, was erected in 1925 to replace an earlier wooden structure.
Locally known in the village of Holmfield as the Team Bridge, the Manitoba Historical Society lists it as the Beam Bridge, in allusion to the strong beam that has kept the bridge hoisted so well for nearly a century.
And the reason it has survived ever-increasing loads of farm machinery, semis, and gravel trucks was attributed to the short span of the bridge, and the strength of the structure.
With yellow and black warning signs, and just one lane, it was a place where drivers would often pause and decide who goes first, and who waits their turn.
But Manitoba Infrastructure, which has been planning the project for over a year, moved onto the site Thursday morning to begin the process of taking out the old bridge, and beginning a new one.
The two municipalities of Killarney-Turtle Mountain and Cartwright Roblin – who both border the Provincial Trunk Highway #458 on which it rests – had been deliberating on ways to somehow retain the historical value of the bridge.
In the end, it was decided that a simple square of the cement, embedded with the year of the bridge’s erection, would be salvaged for posterity.
“I met with them this morning, and we will be retaining a four-foot square of the stencilled cement, which says ‘1925,’ the year it was built,” said Cliff Jones, works manager for the Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain. “That bridge lasted a long time. We will keep this historical piece of the bridge in Holmfield, next to the old bell by the bank vault, and formally commemorate it there in the spring.”
The new bridge will be a wider, three-span structure, and flat, and MB Infrastructure will ‘build the road to match it,’ they said. It should be complete in the spring of 2023, and until then drivers will have to use alternative routes to connect with neighbours and communities.
FAREWELL TO THE HOLMFIELD BRIDGE – Jean Harrison, of Holmfield, captured this beautiful image of the Holmfield Bridge, seen from the east side on the Long River, on September 23, 2021. Built in 1925, the single lane beam bridge has given great service, and its exterior beauty was most appreciated from the east and west.
JEAN HARRISON/PHOTO
END OF AN ERA – The dismantling of the iconic Holmfield Bridge began on Wednesday, November 23.
CLEARING THE DECK – The surface material on the Holmfield Bridge was being scraped up last week, as preparations continued towards the eventual demolition of the 98-year old cement beam bridge. Conservation was the goal, including the preservation of an historical block of the bridge, and checking for fish in the river. Engineers will soon dam off the Long River water flow that normally runs under the bridge, in order to ‘drop’ the bridge structure safely.
HISTORICAL BLOCK – This beautifully etched marker, which was taken carefully from the Holmfield Bridge structure last week, records the date of its erection back in 1925. It currently rests in the village of Holmfield, next to the old bank vault and bell on Railway Avenue. A commemoration for the bridge marker will take place in the spring.
KIM LANGEN/KILLARNEY GUIDE PHOTOS