There is considerable debate about the exact meaning of Waibaidu (外白渡), the name given to the wooden bridge erected by the Shanghai Municipal Council in 1873.

"[6] Xue Liyong (薛理勇), indicates in his book on the history of the Bund: In several instances, the Chinese used the terms li 裡 (internal) and wai 外 (external) to denote varying degrees of proximity of a location.

In October 1856, a British businessman named Charles Wills,[11] of the firm of Jardine, Matheson, and American Edward R. Cunningham (1823–1889),[12] the "brilliant though somewhat impetuous" managing director of Russell & Co.,[13] Vice-Consul for the United States (1853) and also consul of the Consul of Sweden and Norway in Shanghai,[14] with the finances provided by a consortium of twenty investors,[15] called the Soochow Creek Bridge Company,[16] the first company in China focusing mainly on bridge construction,[3] constructed the first foreign bridge across the Suzhou Creek,[17] at the location of the outermost ferry crossing to ease traffic between the British Settlement to the south, and the American Settlement to the north of Suzhou River.

[5] One letter to the editor of the Shenbao newspaper in 1872, expressed outrage that the Chinese had to pay a toll to cross Wills' bridge while foreigners were exempted.

"[25] According to Pott, "The company made a great profit from the tolls collected from those using the bridge, and claimed it had received a charter from the Taotai (Chinese:道台 pinyin: daotai) giving it a right to this monopoly for 25 years.

"In the end the Municipal Council stepped in, built another bridge a dozen paces from Mr Wills's, and allowed everyone to traverse it for free.

"[43] At noon on 10 November 1915 Admiral Tseng Ju Cheng (pinyin: Zheng Ru Cheng; 鄭汝成), governor of Shanghai district loyal to the Beiyang government, was assassinated on the Garden Bridge en route to the Japanese consulate, with a bomb thrown by Wang Mingshan (王明山), and eighteen shots fired by Wang Xiaofeng (王晓峰), another anti-monarchist revolutionary, using two Mauser automatic pistols.

[44][45] The shelling of the Zhabei District during the Shanghai Incident on 28 January 1932, resulted in over 600,000 Chinese refugees attempting to cross the Garden Bridge into the International Settlement.

[48] By 20 February 1932, the approaches to "the garden bridge into the foreign settlement again [was] glutted with a human" tide of those "writhing this morning with the torch of war against her breast".

On 12 August 1937, thousands of refugees, "a milling mass of humanity",[51] from Greater Shanghai streamed into the foreign settlements through the Garden Bridge to escape the Japanese.

Journalist Rhodes Farmer recorded:Word had been passed back that barbed wire and Japanese sentries blocked all the approaches to Shanghai save Garden Bridge and the twenty-foot wide crossing that led to it over the stinking, garbage-filled [Suzhou] Creek.

The mid-day sun scorched down pitilessly, for it was still the season of tahsu — the Great Heat ...the mass pressed on at snail's pace toward what was becoming the bridge of life.

"[53] After August 1937 the Waibaidu Bridge was the de facto border between the International Settlement and Japanese occupied Hongkew (now Hongkou) and Zhabei.

"[58] Kemp Tolley indicates: "A Japanese sentry stood on the Garden Bridge, over odoriferous Soochow Creek, which separated Honkew from the rest of the International Settlement.

One had to hire a ramshackle vehicle especially licensed — or walk across the bridge, bowing en route, and pick up a conveyance in Japanese "territory.

[60] Japanese soldiers on both sides of the bridge would stop any Chinese, humiliate them and punish them if they hadn't shown proper respect.

"[65] In August 1937 Admiral Harry E. Yarnell, Commander-in-Chief of the US Asiatic Fleet, was "deliberately and grossly insulted by Japanese naval sentries on the Garden bridge.

[67][68] In late February 1938, the garrison commander of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces in China released a list of regulations and inducements to encourage foreigners to return to the Hongkou District to live, shop or do business: "Foreigners returning to districts North of the Creek are especially requested to respect the sentry on point duty at the Garden Bridge and at street corners by giving him a gentle bow, and wishing him 'GOOD MORNING.'

[72] Later that month Miss Dorothea Lintihac was "rough housed" by Japanese sentries because she and her mother crossed the Garden Bridge on the wrong side of the street to avoid both dangerous traffic and barbwire entanglements.

[73][74] In the early hours of 8 December 1941, as Pearl Harbor was being attacked, the International Settlement was occupied by Japanese military forces.

"[76] An American resident, Edna Lee Booker, recalls: "The arrogance and possessiveness of the Japanese began at the top with the Gendarmerie and the inquisitors, and carried down.

In 1965 the wooden pedestrian sidewalks were replaced with new materials, the concrete columns were reinforced, tooth plate joints were installed, and the bridge repainted.

A rust-proof zinc spray was then added to the bridge, and the sidewalk railings repainted grey, while the side safety fences were painted white.

[5] In the middle of 1999 the ninety-one year-old bridge "experienced the largest face-lift of its history to date and was restored to its full beauty, glory and strength.

As early as March 2007 it was decided to strengthen the Waibaidu bridge due to "concerns that construction of a nearby tunnel could damage the structure.

The piers along the steel truss Waibaidu Bridge will be upgraded following a complete inspection....City engineers have managed to track down the original blueprints, which were written in English.

"At night, it was like watching a meteor flying across the sky as one worker cast a heated rivet high and the other quickly took it with tools and hammered it on the bridge without a second's delay, a Shanghai Shipyard engineer said.

We will replace the previous concretes with wooden materials to build the new sidewalks to bring back the bridge's original and old style.

Now the bridge's three piers will be sitting on 36 one-metre-wide concrete supports that are deeply-rooted to a depth of 67 metres under the bottom of the creek.

"[86] The restored bridge stands on new concrete piles that are wider and deeper than the original wooden supports and is expected to have a safe lifespan of at least another 50 years.