The Fanning Springs Bridge was built by the State of Florida and in 1934 was officially named the Benjamin Chaires Bridge in honor of a prominent pioneer settler of Dixie County. Located 29 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, it was the southernmost crossing of the Suwannee River. When the bridge was completed, residents from surrounding areas celebrated so jubilantly that they staged a square dance on the structure. One of the four spans needed to cross the Suwannee River was later erected by the state for use as a monument, and it still bears the original plaque inscribed with Stephen Foster's song "Way Down Upon the Suwannee River."