Originally, it connected stockyards in nearby South St. Paul, Minnesota, to the mail rail lines of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy, and Milwaukee Road that ran on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Washington County, Minnesota.

Until the first Wakota Bridge was built in 1959, it was the only Mississippi crossing between Downtown St. Paul and Hastings, Minnesota.

There is some evidence that gangster John Dillinger fled across the bridge into Inver Grove Heights after a running gun battle with Dakota County deputies in Newport and St. Paul Park.

In 1999, an inspection revealed that the bridge had a bad beam, and it was permanently closed to automobile traffic.

J.A.R Bridge, Inc., eventually requested that Washington County help fund a thorough inspection, in hopes that a buyer could be found.

Washington County was not receptive to the idea, however, feeling that the bridge was so old that there was no point putting any more money into it — if there was a need for a crossing in the area, they should look at building a new one.

County engineer Don Theisen called the bridge "a rusty bucket of bolts" and said that it had been impeding barge traffic.

[4] The eastern span was adjacent to a large Marathon Oil refinery in Saint Paul Park.

As it had already collapsed and in order to end the refinery's hassle of dealing with trespassers, the eastern span was quickly removed.

It was later revealed that sparks from welding caused the old railroad ties on the bridge to ignite and start a fire.