On Monday, March 23, 1931, Minnesota Governor Floyd B. Olson signed the bill that created Charles A. Lindbergh State Park. A well-loved asset for the City of Little Falls and the entire state of Minnesota, the park draws visitors from across the nation and the world. This photo postcard shows a view of the swinging bridge that once crossed Pike Creek as it flows through the park. The creek cuts across land that was the former Lindbergh family farm before exiting into the Mississippi River via a deep ravine. Among the changes to the park throughout its eighty-five year history are the replacement of the swinging bridge with a more permanent concrete, metal and wood structure and the growth of trees and bushes. The open woodland viewed in the background of the photo has developed into a dense stand of tall trees.
The photo postcard was donated to The Morrison County Historical Society in 1988 by Byron H. Clifford, Sr. of Baxter, Minnesota. The postcard was manufactured by the L. L. Cook Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, around 1950. The company was established in 1921 by Lloyd Lewis Cook (1887-1972), a businessman with ties to Minnesota. Cook founded the Cook Montgomery Company in Minneapolis with Harris P. Montgomery around 1917-1918. Cook’s Wisconsin company produced thousands of postcards with scenes from different cities and states across the country. The company specialized in postcards that were created by printing photographs directly on photographic paper. The L. L. Cook Company produced postcards until 1969, when it was sold to the General Aniline & Film (GAF) Corporation. The business formally dissolved in 1980.