In 1840, the first of several bridges was built at this location, which became known as Bridgeport. In the early 1800s, the locality consisted of a group of log houses, a blacksmith shop, and a wagon shop. Several schools were built here over the years, beginning with a one-room round log schoolhouse with a clapboard roof, stick chimney, slab benches without backs, and planks pinned to the log walls for desks. A Liberty Party meeting advocating the abolition of slavery was held at this schoolhouse in 1844. In 1962, Fairbanks School, named in honor of Union County native Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, was built here. The Bridgeport Iron Bridge, often called the Streng Road Iron Bridge, was built in 1914 to replace a wooden covered bridge built in 1869 by Reuben L. Partridge and Isaac J. Grummons that had been damaged in the flood of 1913. Its 200-foot steel superstructure used a pin-connected Pratt Through truss design and was built by the Central Concrete & Construction Company of Canton, Ohio, at a cost of $8,987. The original substructure abutments were built by John A. Maugans for $3,248, but were later replaced. In 1992 and 1993, the bridge was renovated under the leadership of County Engineer Steve A. Stolte and Assistant Engineer Jeff Stauch.