A span of many memories: A look back at some of the history of the Black Hawk Bridge through the local newspapers
In keeping with the front page headline of “Fallen... but never to be forgotten!” in the December 24, 2025 edition of The Standard, following the December 19 demolition of the main span of the Black Hawk Bridge and its removal from the waters it once spanned since that demolition date, The Standard has been gathering some of the articles or smaller news items that could be found in searching the archives of the former Allamakee Journal and Lansing Mirror newspapers that once served the Lansing area.
In an effort to continue to preserve the bridge’s memory - and perhaps refresh or create some new ones - some of those news items will be printed within the pages of The Standard as space and time allows.
Much appreciation for helping make such searches possible and more convenient goes out to the Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library for having the archives of those newspapers digitized and made available through a “Community History Digital Archives” link on the library website at www.lansing.lib.ia.us. Grateful appreciation also goes out to Martha Dunlevy Peters for providing some guidance with previous searches she has conducted and news items she has recorded that were the work of her Dunlevy family of three generations of newspaper editors, including her great-grandfather, John J. “J.J.” Dunlevy; her grandfather, M.J. “Joe” Dunlevy; and her father, John Dunlevy.
Although the Black Hawk Bridge was not constructed and open to the public until 1931, the newspaper archives certainly indicate a much earlier desire to have such a crossing at Lansing, as indicated by some of these early clippings printed on this same front page of this week’s edition that appeared in Allamakee Journal newspaper editions during the year of 1912, nearly two decades before the bridge became a completed reality. Admittedly, not every news item that has ever been printed about the Black Hawk Bridge within the pages of those newspapers will be found and reproduced here, so anyone who may be able to fill in any gaps within the dates of publications listed in these reprintings is welcome to share them for publication by reaching out by email at news@waukonstandard.com or by telephone at 563-568-3431.
To read the full article, pick up the Wednesday, January 21, 2026 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.
