Gugel Bridge

Built in 1904, this 204-foot-long bridge carried the Detroit and Saginaw Turnpike over the Cass River in Bridgeport Township. By around 1919 the pike, which had become the well-traveled Dixie Highway, required a more substantial crossing, and the bridge was replaced and relocated to this site. The bridge closed in 1979. William “Tiny” Zehnder had the structure restored as a pedestrian bridge in 2004. The Gugel Bridge is listed in the National Historic Register of Historic Places. The Joliet Bridge and Iron Company built at least 25 bridges in Michigan, several of them in Saginaw County. In 1904 the company erected this unusual bridge, which has both a 60-foot pony Pratt truss and a 144-foot Pratt through truss. The bridge originally spanned the Cass River in Bridgeport Township. When it was replaced around 1919, Frankenmuth supervisor and Saginaw County commissioner Christian Gugel moved the bridge to this site at Beyer Road, which lacked a crossing.