The Seventh Street Improvement Arches are historically significant for its rarity and the technically demanding nature of its skewed, helicoidal spiral, stone-arch design.

The bridge was proposed in 1883 as part of a group of improvements along Seventh Street, linking downtown St. Paul with the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood on the east.

These improvements were necessary because the hill on Seventh Street needed to be rebuilt to lessen its steepness, so streetcars could travel between downtown and the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood.

The bridge also had to carry sewer and water pipes and match the rest of the profile of the regraded hill, making a substantial amount of fill necessary.

Truesdell also considered using the classical French method of skewed arch construction, but the amount of skilled stonecutting necessary would have made the cost prohibitive.