Built as a toll bridge in 1911, it was named for the nearby Westham Station of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway near the north end.

The privately held company which financed the bridge, Southampton Bridge Corporation, was headed by developer George Craghead Gregory, who also had plans to extend a streetcar line from an existing line at Westhampton Park (now the University of Richmond) to the suburban community of Bon Air.

Between the James River and Bon Air, Gregory controlled large land areas along the proposed rail line which he hoped to develop.

The old bridge was dismantled, but the abutments for it remained visible at each end, and overhead power and telephone lines continued to mark the route.

Claflin, Mary Anne, and Richardson, Elizabeth Guy (1977) Bon Air: A History, Hale Publishing, Richmond, Virginia