Elm Park Bridge (the Bridge Drive-In bridge)

The bridge is known to many as the “Bridge Drive In bridge” due to its proximity to that summer institution. It is Winnipeg’s fourth oldest bridge after the Redwood, Louise and Arlington. Elm Park was created in 1890 by the Elm Park Company, a subsidiary of the privately-owned Winnipeg Street Railway Company. It was intended to attract evening and weekend passengers onto their expensive new streetcar line which ran down Osborne Street to Jubilee Avenue. In 1912, the company decided that there was more money to be made by getting out of the park business and subdividing the land for residential development. To coincide with the start of their land sale campaign the company announced that a permanent, steel truss bridge would be erected. Construction got underway in 1913 and the bridge was officially opened in March 1914.

The bridge was used for vehicles until 1974. It is now a picturesque place to stroll and watch the river flow by, with an ice cream in hand.