Also known as Bridge #173 and as Puente Rio las Minas, it was built in the year 1862 as part of Puerto Rico's Carretera Central.

This bridge, like some others, was destroyed by Spanish troops under Commander Rafael Martinez-Illescas to delay the American troops, which worked;[3] a battalion of the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment, part of a U.S. Army column commanded by Major General James H. Wilson, approaching from Ponce, Puerto Rico, was held up.

[2] The Wisconsin troops subsequently participated in a pincer movement at the Battle of Coamo in which Martinez-Illescas was killed.

[2] The bridge is named for General Santiago Mendez Vigo [es], who was governor of Puerto Rico, for Spain, during 1840 to 1844.

This article about a property in Puerto Rico on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.