In 2011, the Black Hawk Bridge will celebrate its 80th birthday. It was conceived as an idea to improve the city of Lansing, Iowa as well as provide a link between the small towns along the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin. It was born during the depths of the Great Depression.

It survived being closed for over a decade following World War II because of heavy winter river ice and the toll bridge company lacking the money to pay for repairs. It reopened in the late 1950s and is surviving despite thoughts from the departments of transportation of Iowa and Wisconsin that the bridge is obsolete and should be taken down...and not be replaced.

The citizens of Lansing have shown the love for the bridge by raising money to place a series of lights on the superstructure, making the bridge look like a necklace of diamonds shining through the river's darkness. Lansing throws an annual three-day long party the 2d weekend of August to celebrate the bridge and Lansing's heritage as an agricultural, fishing and manufacturing center.

This book of images of the Lansing Bridge and the surrounding area is a celebration.