They began a leisurely walk across a late-nineteenth-century truss bridge spanning the Mississippi toward the picturesque path along historic Main Street Park. The 147-foot Merriam Street Bridge connects Nicollet Island to the east bank and the parish of Notre Dame, Our Lady of Lourdes. This name was bestowed by French Canadians as a tribute to the 1858 Marian apparition in Lourdes, France.
