Alvord Lake Bridge

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel. The Alvord Lake Bridge was the first reinforced concrete bridge built in the United States, and to this day remains a viable entrance into San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park as the oldest standing bridge on the grounds. Built in 1889 and designed by Ernest Leslie Ransome, the bridge is constructed of a single arch that measures 64 feet wide and 20 feet long. Ransome is often recognized as an innovator of reinforced concrete, a method that adds steel reinforcing bars to the concrete to improve its strength, and is responsible for other notable structures in San Francisco.