Freeport Bridge Sign To Be Dedicated June 30

Posted: June 16, 2026 in City News

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FOR RELEASE TIMED TO JUNE 30 EVENT

Decorah Historic Preservation Commission

Contact: Mark Z. Muggli, DHPC Chair (historicpreservation@decorahia.org; 612-720-5795)

Freeport Bridge Sign To Be Dedicated June 30

Decorah, IA (June 16, 2026) — A new Freeport Bridge informational sign at the Trout Run Park will be unveiled on Tuesday, June 30, at 4:30 p.m. The Park is located on Highway 9 east of Decorah. The sign was funded by the City of Decorah, and the content was developed by the Decorah Historic Preservation Commission.

 

The dedication will include a brief survey of the Freeport Bridge’s history, and will also celebrate several individuals who helped preserve and relocate the bridge in the 1980s.

 

Decorah Historic Preservation Commission chair Mark Z. Muggli said, “Preservering and moving a bridge is a community undertaking, and we want to publicly acknowledge some of the people who gave their time and energy to this significant project.”

 

When it was built in 1878, the Freeport Bridge was the longest bridge in the county. The bridge was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, when it was said to be the second-longest single-span bowstring bridge still in use in the United States. The bridge was moved to its current location in Trout Run Park in 1989.

 

The Decorah Historic Preservation Commission is a state-certified city board established in 2007 to promote the public’s educational and economic welfare through the recognition of historic sites. (Contact: historicpreservation@decorah.iowa.gov)

 

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Photos of the bridge in its original location over the Upper Iowa River, Freeport, Iowa. Photos from the HAER (Historic American Engineering Record) Iowa No. 19 report.

 

 

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