Bridge was built in 1898 by the Great Northern Railroad. It was rebuilt in 1952, by the Northern Pacific Railroad. The bridge passed on to Burlington Northern ownership in the 1971 merger, and is now owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

There were a total of four railroad bridges built across the Mississippi River in Bemidji. The river cuts across a small isthmus of land that connects east and west Bemidji, and separates Lake Irving from Lake Bemidji. The bridges built by the Minneapolis, Red Lake, and Manitoba and the Minnesota and International have both been removed. The Soo Line bridge, now owned by the Canadian Pacific, is currently being used as a hiking trail.