Mark Parsons

My Life as a Bridge Mark Parsons

I'm not the oldest bridge in Portland, nor am I the most beautiful. Those achievements would fall on other bridges in Portland as there are many. My nearest neighbor down-stream, the Morrison Street Bridge could claim the oldest location for a bridge in Portland. The original Morrison Bridge was a wooden truss swing-span bridge completed on April 12, 1887. As the first Willamette River bridge in Portland and the longest bridge west of the Mississippi River, it can stand older in age than my location. I've lived my life as a bridge for more than one hundred years and there are no plans, that I know of, to replace me. I've served my community for all these years, letting them, first in their horse-drawn carts, chariots, hand carts and afoot, into the automobile age with their ever-increasing loads and abuse. Like all bridges before me, I know my purpose: to let pedestrians and traffic travel from one side of the divider to the other and I've served that purpose well.