September 2026
The Menesetung Bridge is a former seven-span steel and wood railway trestle that spans the Maitland River in Goderich, Ontario. Built for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) for their subsidiary, the Goderich and Guelph Railway in 1904, it was 750 feet long and sitting 60 feet above the river on concrete piers, it was the longest railway in Ontario at the time.
The bridge opened in to rail traffic in 1907, with steam locomotives and heavy trains hauling freight like the grain and other farm produce, road salt, and road graders, from the adjoining port facilities.
By the middle of the 20th Century, motor vehicles and paved highways made transportation of people and goods easier, leading to a decline in the railways. Passenger service along the line ended in the early 1970s, and the final freight train in 1989 after CP Rail abandoned the line.
The railway planned to demolish the bridge. However, local residents formed the Menesetung Bridge Association to buy and save the structure, turning community donations into a successful effort to preserve it as a pedestrian trail.
By 1991, the association had raised $120,000 to complete the conversion to a rail trail bridge, with some of the money raised through selling the planks and railings that make up the walkway. The following year, the bridge and Tiger Dunlop Trail are opened to hikers and bikers.
The Menesetung Bridge receives a heritage designation in 1993, thus officially saving it from demolition.
Sources: Menesetung Bridge Association.
