[1] The original bridge at this site was constructed of large cast iron pipes by the Army Corps of Engineers from 1858 to 1860.

[2] At its construction, it was the only bridge made entirely of cast iron of substantial size in the United States.

It was initially intended to be solely an aqueduct bridge carrying water mains connected to the Georgetown Reservoir, but the onset of the Civil War necessitated making it a vehicular crossing as well.

[1] A water pressure engine in the west abutment supplied water to a reservoir at the current site of the Georgetown branch of the D. C. Public Library to feed the significant part of the City of Georgetown that was too high to be directly fed by the main Washington Aqueduct.

The United States Commission of Fine Arts, the agency tasked with reviewing architectural projects in the capital, opposed the plan on aesthetic grounds, saying that the arch design would clash with the existing Q Street Bridge upstream, but their recommendations were ignored.