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JUNE / JULY 2020 • MONTANA SENIOR NEWS MODErN SENIOr PAGE 15
10TH STrEET BrIDGE | CONTINUED FrOM PAGE 11 reconstructing one of the
bridge’s spans at the north
Having become redundant, the Tenth end. Abandoned utility lines
Street Bridge was slated for demolition, were safely removed and sal-
until a group of preservationists, spear- vaged for copper and metal.
headed by Arlyne Reichert, 94, a community A grant from the Montana
activist who had served as a delegate during Cultural Trust enabled the
the 1972 Constitutional Convention, sought group to purchase benches
to save the iconic bridge. and planters for the completed
With just six days to spare, they were model arch of the bridge.
able to divert the $400,000 the Montana A tunnel was burrowed
Department of Transportation had allo- through the bulkhead, to
cated to demolish the bridge. Since then, integrate the bridge with
Preservation Cascade has raised over a Great Falls’ flagship River’s
million dollars to repair the bridge to serve as Edge Trail.
a pedestrian passageway, among other uses. A competitive grant
It hasn’t always been easy. fro m the C o m m unity
“They call me the ‘Bridge Lady’,” but in Transportation Enhancement
reality a ‘Bridge Army’ from this commu- Program provided for the
nity and beyond worked hard to restore the illumination of blue lighting Arlyne Reichert, 94, is know as the “Bridge Lady” in Great Falls. In the
bridge,” said Reichert. of the bridge at night. 90s, she spearheaded the city’s preservationists’ effort to save the
When the Tenth Street Bridge was about In a coffee table book by iconic Tenth Street Bridge. Photo by Suzanne Waring.
to be demolished, a world-renowned, National Geographic, titled don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.’
historic-bridge engineer, the late Abba Saving America’s Treasures, the bridge’s Happily, the people of Great Falls woke up
Lichtenstein, flew to Great Falls. He per- arches are pictured and described as “skip- in time, and they’ve still got it.”
sonally spent days inspecting the bridge and ping across the water like a flat stone flung And they want to share it.
determined that it was unique and definitely by a small boy.” To recognize the centennial of the com-
worth preserving. The Tenth Street Bridge preservation pletion of the bridge, Preservation Cascade
Once Preservation Cascade received project has received honors from the National is planning a celebration on August 20. The
word the bridge was sound, they worked Trust for Historic Preservation, the National agenda for the celebration will depend on
to restore it to its original glory. Geographic Society, the state of Montana, the status of the Coronavirus.
It was listed on the National Register of the Cascade County Historical Society, the Watch for the latest information
Historic Places in 1996, and a grant from Montana Contractors Association, and the about this August centennial celebration
the prestigious Save America’s Treasures Society of Industrial Archeology. on the bridge at Preservation Cascade’s
Program enabled the group to employ tal- The article in Saving America’s Treasures Facebook page. MSN
ented local artisans to create a model for concludes, “It’s just like what Joni Mitchell
the remaining restoration of the bridge by says in the song, ‘Big Yellow Taxi’: ‘You
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