There are four bridges based on Fountain Lake, and three of these spans over water actually have now nearly forgotten names.

One is the Blackmer Bridge between the lake and Dane Bay and near the intersection of Lakeview Boulevard, Sunset Street and, very appropriately, Blackmer Avenue. This name is based on a pioneer family which included two doctors and a newspaper editor.

Another is the recently rebuilt Bancroft Bridge on Richway Drive. The name of this span is partly based on its location over the channel between Fountain Lake and Bancroft Bay. Adding emphasis to the name is Bancroft Creek and the community of Bancroft to the north. However, despite its

name, the bridge is in Albert Lea Township. Bancroft Township is actually located to the north and starts on the other side of Hammer Road.

One of the bridges doesn’t really span any part of the lake or even has a name. It’s located just to the south of the dam at the lake’s outlet and is part of the obviously named Bridge Avenue.

Then there’s the Hatch Bridge between the Oakwood Peninsula and Shoreland Heights. This span between the main part of Fountain Lake and Edgewater Bay is now the third version at this location. This is also a bridge which could have been named for the person who was responsible for its original construction 124 years ago.

That person’s name was Colonel Washington Lee. According to an 1878 plat map he owned 237.94 acres of land on the north shore of Fountain Lake. In reality, his property comprised all of what’s now Shoreland Heights.

No biographical material seems to be available about Lee, except for a comment in a 1956 Tribune article which said he was a friend of Albert Miller Lea.

On May 20, 1879, Lee went to the Albert Lea Township Board and made a proposition they just couldn’t refuse. He offered a right-of-way across his property (now the north end of Lakeview Boulevard) for a roadway which could become a link between the city and what was then called the Freeborn Road (what’s now the west end

of Richway Drive.)

However, there was the challenge of open water between Lee’s property and the Oakwood Peninsula. A bridge would have to be constructed. To enhance his land offer, Lee said he would pay $200 to help pay for the costs of a proposed bridge. After all, this bridge would provide a vital link between Lee’s farm and the city.

An article in the June 26, 1956, issue of the Tribune explained that there was a floating bog of matted vegetation in Edgewater Bay. This equivalent of a floating island was moved south and anchored with long poles in the watery space between the peninsula and Lee’s farm. Then rocks and plenty of dirt were brought in to fill most of the route for a new roadway. The final touch was to construct a wooden bridge. This was the first of three Hatch Bridges at this location.

And why was the name of Hatch instead of Lee used for the new bridge?

Part of the answer can be seen on the 1878 plat map of Albert Lea Township. Someone named Hatch owned 15 acres of land on the Oakwood Peninsula and on the west side of the new bridge.

That someone was Col. S. A. Hatch. He was from New York. Lee’s occupation was that of land sales promoter and agent for several railroads in the West. Hatch was also an avid sportsman who came to the Albert Lea area each year to hunt and fish. One of his favorite places was the Oakwood Peninsula. In fact, Hatch liked the wooded knoll so much he purchased the property for a thousand dollars from Torger Michelson.

The 1882 History of Freeborn County book by the Rev. Edward D. Neill had this comment about the sportsman on page 359:

“Col. S. A. Hatch has returned to the city from his shooting-box on the romantic shores of the lake at Albert Lea, Minnesota. He reports that the duck and geese shooting was never better than this fall. Quite a party of gentlemen from New York gathered at Albert Lea in the last days of September, and remained until the lakes closed on the 29th of October.

The majority of them were Wall Street magnates, who had shot ducks in various parts of the country, not excepting Maryland and Virginia and the Carolina coast. After a thorough experience they were unanimous in expressing the opinion that they never saw ducks in greater abundance, and of such delicate flavor, as in the bracing altitudes of Minnesota. They voted Albert Lea the center of the sportsman’s paradise.&uot;

The original wooden-decked Hatch Bridge was replaced in 1906 with a more substantial concrete structure. Then, in late 1955, the present bridge with its steel culvert was put into service.

Maybe Hatch won out with the naming rights for the bridge; however, the Lee name still endures within what was once the acreage of his farm on the north shore of Fountain Lake. As a part of what’s now Shoreland Heights are Lee Place and Lee Circle. (Lee Avenue on the city’s southeast side may have been named for someone else.)