The Minnesela Bridge is a historic bridge located in Butte County, South Dakota. Formally known as South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 10-114-395, it passes over Redwater Creek about southeast of Belle Fourche. It was built in 1917 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 as part of the Historic Bridges in South Dakota Multiple Property Submission. It was one of the earliest concrete bridges constructed in the state. Concrete Engineering Company built multiple concrete bridges in the Rapid City area in the late 1910s, and due to the quality of their construction, many have survived. The bride was built at a cost of $2,588. With . Its common name is in reference to the nearby site of the ghost town of

Minnesela Minnesela ( Lakota: ''mni šeyéla''; "red water") is a ghost town and was the first settlement in and county seat of Butte County, South Dakota, United States. Minnesela was founded in 1882 and was located three miles southeast of present-day ...

, which sits just a few feet east of the bridge.

Architecture

It is a single-span concrete deck arch bridge measuring long. Concrete Engineering Company designed it in a vernacular style. The arch is a segmental barrel arch with filled

spandrels A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

and recessed panels. It has a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

along the bridge and

wing walls A wing wall (also "wingwall" or "wing-wall") is a smaller wall attached or next to a larger wall or structure. Bridges In a bridge, the wing walls are adjacent to the abutments and act as retaining walls. They are generally constructed of the same ...

which "appears as crenelation pierced by semi-circular arches." The guardrails have decorative castellated beams.

References

Bridges completed in 1917 National Register of Historic Places in Butte County, South Dakota Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in South Dakota 1917 establishments in South Dakota Deck arch bridges in the United States Concrete bridges in the United States {{SouthDakota-NRHP-stub