This bridge is one of the first 15 bridges to cross the Mississippi River. This bridge has a long history. It opened in late 1876 as a swing span. It was rebuilt in 1905, and rebuilt without the swing span in 1928, and updated again in 2001. In the 2001 rebuild, the piers were capped with reinforced concrete and a combination of deck plate girder and pony plate girder spans replaced the 1928 era truss spans.

This bridge is part of a total of 4 bridges that make up the La Crosse railroad crossing. These bridges consist of the Main Channel Rail Bridge, this bridge (the East Channel Rail Bridge), the French Slough Rail Bridge, and the Black River Channel Rail Bridge. These bridges were built by the Milwaukee Road, which merged with the Soo Line, which has since been bought out by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The La Crosse rail bridge is one of three places that the Amtrack Empire Builder passenger train crosses the Mississippi River (the other two are Hastings, MN, and Little Falls, MN).