The first bridge across the Minnesota River in this area, an iron truss bridge with a swingspan, connected Mankato and North Mankato in 1879. That bridge was replaced by a very ornate concrete arch bridge in 1917 that carried both cars and electric street cars.

The current bridge was built during 1985 and 1986. A flood control project involved installing levees and a flood wall along both sides of the river. The flood walls required that the 1917 bridge be removed. The US Army Corps of Engineers built the new Veteran's Memorial Bridge to replace the 1917 bridge. The flood control project was very successful, having prevented Mankato from flooding during the massive floods in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The Veteran's bridge is unexpectedly long for crossing the river in an area where the river is locked into a narrow channel by flood walls. As it turns out, the bridge has two spans over the Minnesota River, a span over the Union Pacific railroad tracks, a span over busy Riverfront Drive, and two final spans over a parking lot. The bridge lands on N 2nd Street in Mankato, and crosses the US-169 freeway as part of a diamond interchange on the North Mankato side of the river.

Mankato was home to a car factory in the early 1900s. The Kato car, introduced in 1903, was the first US-built car to feature a V-8 engine.