The first bridge at this location was built to cross the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's double-track Metropolitan Branch line, which opened in 1873.

The project historian wrote, "The bridge also is significant for its social history and as a cultural landscape element.

African Americans living west of the bridge in Lyttonsville relied on the structure as a vital link to jobs, shopping, and recreational opportunities unavailable in their community.

People east of the bridge lived in what was historically a sundown suburb: a place where African Americans could not buy or rent homes and where Jim Crow segregation was rigidly enforced.

[9] Its main span was preserved and stored, with plans to place it on public display along the Georgetown Branch Trail.