The stone arch bridge was part of the original single-track line that brought Pennsylvania Railroad Company service to Huntingdon in 1850. The steam engine "Henry Clay" completed its journey into town on June 6, with regular service to Philadelphia beginning the following day. For a period of years, railroad, highway, and canal transportation operated parallel to each other, but railroad improvements and additional tracks gradually gave the railroad precedence over the canal. After extensive canal property was destroyed in the great flood of 1889, the railroad bought the canal right-of-way and moved its tracks from Allegheny Street to the former canal bed, closer to the river. The current railroad bridge follows the route of the aqueduct that carried canal boats over Stone Creek, and that relocation led to the abandonment of the 1850 bridge.