In May 1936, a truck caused the bridge to sag and emergency repairs were required to bring the structure up to safety codes.

The original crossing between the hamlet of Hankins in the town of Fremont, New York and the village of Stalker in Manchester Township, Pennsylvania was a ferry between the two locations operated by William Kellam starting March 1860.

[3] The first meeting of a new bridge company came on April 30, 1888, with three members of the Kellam family, including William's brother David present, along with Joel Hill, a local landowner and veteran of the American Civil War, who would serve as the president of the Little Equinunk Bridge Company.

The train, pulling a heavy freight, struggled to make steam and as it reached Kellam's Bridge, the engine stopped and exploded.

Another engine employee, William Kellam, also ended up going down the embankment into the river, with heavy burns from the firebox.

A local resident, Mark Carr, also went down the embankment, landing in the river with burns and other injuries before rescuers grabbed him to safety.

The head brakeman, Frank Boyle, was thrown 100 feet (30 m) in front of the exploded locomotive and only managed a sprained knee and lacerations.

[8] Progress was slow, and another meeting was held on December 14, 1928 in New York City by Lewis A. Hill and his brother John about getting the state to takeover the bridge.

Local efforts made progress in eliminating the problems in acquisition of the title for Kellam's Bridge.

The Sullivan County Board of Supervisors made an argument in favor of the locals and the bridge opened again in October 1935.

[12] With necessary construction coming, the states of New York and Pennsylvania agreed to split the cost for restoration work on Kellam's Bridge in July 1936.

An engineer from PennDOT stated that plans were in the works for restoration of the bridge already and that project would include stabilizing the moving tower, along with painting and repairs on the steel grate deck.

One resident reported to PennDOT that a truck with heavy objects inside crossed the bridge several years prior, which did damage to the deck and side-rails of the structure.

The destruction necessitated installation of overhead bars to prevent larger vehicles from crossing the bridge.

After getting 500 signatures on a local petition, residents told the Wayne County Commissioners that their livelihoods were being affected by the closed bridge and problems were occurring for emergency services in the area.

[16] The contract ended up for $311,811 would involve the construction of a retaining wall around the New York abutment and extra towers would be built to help support the bridge.

This project would include that the towers would be straightened from their tipped position and that the truss would be strengthened to help withstand larger vehicles.

[20] In May 1990, NYSDOT engineers confirmed that the bridge would be opened again in June 1990 with the repairs finished and the new clearance bars installed.