It was built in 1889 by Ernest L. Ransome, an innovator in reinforced concrete design, mixing equipment, and construction systems.

[1] Ransome is believed to have used his patented cold-twisted square steel bar for reinforcement, placed longitudinally in the arch and curved in the same arc.

[2] E. L. Ransome left San Francisco a few years later, frustrated and bitter at the building community's indifference to concrete construction.

Ironically, the city's few reinforced concrete structures, including the Alvord Lake Bridge, survived the 1906 earthquake and fire in remarkable shape, vindicating Ransome's faith in the method.

The Alvord Lake Bridge, which arches over a pedestrian walkway near the lake in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, allows visitors coming from the Haight Ashbury District and entering the park from the east at Stanyan Street to access the rest of the park safely and directly by providing a grade-separated crossing underneath the busy Kezar Drive.