We are crossing the river now from the left to approach downtown Strum. Isn't it interesting that the bridge we look at today is as simple in appearance as the bridge used to cross this river in about 1910. There was no dam then, but both bridges were flat continuations of the road. The old Strum bridge that I remember had the trapezoidal shape of that era, high rising sides and girders, slanting in from either end, with even more braces at the top. All iron and steel. Pedestrians had a separate walk that took you right across the down-river side of the dam. Whow! That's how we got to grade school.
A few years ago, the old St. Paul Lutheran Church parsonage was moved across this new bridge to a new home south and east of town, I believe. I believe that feat would have been impossible with the old bridge, the house was far too high. There is a silver lining in every cloud, as they say. Perhaps that grand old parsonage would have seen its last days had the new low bridge not been in place to span the river. |
