The bridge was constructed by local Cecil County bridgewright Joseph George Johnson in the autumn and winter of 1860-61 across North East Creek.

The bridge was erected adjacent to and upstream of Samuel Gilpin's mills and dam and crosses the millpond formed by it.

[1] The bridge's trusses, floor beams, ties, and lateral bracing systems are framed almost entirely of Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), a species typically favored for wooden bridge framing in areas of the country where it was found, for its strength-to-weight ratio, as minimizing dead load a strategy for increasing capacity for live load.

The original floor beams were replaced sometime in the 1920s, the bridges final decade of service, with mixed species ash and oak.

The only original white pine floorbeam to escape replacement was the one found at the centerline of truss, which was tenoned through the king post at midspan.