It connects the east and west sections of Fairmount Park, and the Brewerytown neighborhood with the Philadelphia Zoo.

Rudolph Hering is credited with the design; it was constructed by Adolphus Bonzano, and cost $267,000.

In December 1872, a grand jury found that it was poorly constructed and dangerous.

The second Girard Avenue Bridge was built 1873-74, in anticipation of the 1876 Centennial Exposition that was to be held in West Fairmount Park.

[5] The western terminus of the bridge is the congested intersection of 34th Street and West Girard Avenue.