Bridge 4759, Carrying Trunk Highway 20 over Cannon River, Cannon Falls, Goodhue County, MN

Significance: Bridge 4759 consists of three 80-foot Warren pony trusses with polygonal top chords. It was erected in 1928 by the Guaranty Construction Company, a Minneapolis contractor, as part of a project to upgrade Trunk Highway 20, which had been incorporated into one of Minnesota's first federal highway routes. The bridge served for decades as a major gateway to downtown Cannon Falls, a trade center for the surrounding rural area. The polygonal Warren truss is the last of a long progression of popular pony truss designs that evolved during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Once a common standard plan, this truss type is rapidly disappearing as bridges are replaced due to structural and functional obsolescence.
Survey number: HAER MN-85