Hennepin Canal Bridge

Work took me to the Hennepin Canal the other day, and I came across this old bridge still in use (bypassed in 2002) for foot traffic across the canal.

The bridge dates from 1900 according to the bridge plates left by the manufacturer on both sides of the bridge.

It is safe to cross (unlike a bridge crossing Bureau Creek further east, that’ll be another post).

Bureau County even left up the old weight limit signs when they bypassed this section of road.

The bridge is a great place to view the old lock along the canal.

There’s even a small park to go along with it.

Lament for Jefferson Square

Jefferson Square was a mall I knew well while growing up.  It was a simple two anchor mall, with Montgomery Ward on the west end and Wieboldt’s on the east end.  Opened in 1975, it was Joliet, Illinois’s first indoor mall.  The mall had some major competition in 1978 when the Louis Joliet Mall opened a few miles away, but it held its own until Wieboldt’s closed in 1987.  Then it started to lose stores and go into a downward spiral.  In 1992, Menards took over the former Wieboldt’s, but the entry to the mall was sealed off.  In 1996, the mall was remodeled and became “Wilderness Mall”.  Unfortunately, this had the side effect of pushing out some of the remaining chain stores.  Then Montgomery Ward closed in 2001.  Menards bought the mall a few years later, and then tore it down in 2006, starting with the former Ward’s.  Currently, a Menards and a Wal Mart Supercenter occupy the site.  Here’s an image from the golden days, and a mall map from 1990 or so.

This was the north wing.  Note the sunken seating area.  The mall had four of these, one in each wing.

A Few Upper Peninsula Signs and Sights

Just a few signs and sights from the Upper Peninsula that I took back in the late 1990s.

Business US-41 in Marquette, Michigan.  Today, it has been decommissioned, but at one time it went though downtown Marquette.  Notice how the Business US-41 shield is not exactly typical.

M-203’s beginning in Hancock, Michigan, taken from northbound US-41.  US-41, of course, has the destinations of Calumet, and the ultimate destination for US-41, Copper Harbor.  M-203 gets a state park.

Another view of the intersection.  Note the internally illuminated stop and turn signs above the intersection.

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