Broad River was an early boundary between the Cherokee and Catawba Indians. The name was first applied about 1745. Faust's Ford, two miles above, was used in the Revolution. The first bridge opened in 1829 and was burned in 1865 to delay Sherman's army, which crossed on pontoon bridges downstream. The bridge was rebuilt in 1867, burned in 1925, and a concrete bridge was completed in 1930.