When the Meppel Lock was built in 1635, a footbridge was erected on the town side of the lock. Around 1880, the lock was widened for the steamships that traveled between Meppel and the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, among others, and a slimmer but wider wooden drawbridge was built in its place. In 1929, the current iron drawbridge was installed on the other side of the lock. Despite plans in the 1990s to replace the bridge with a wider one, it was declared a national monument through private initiative and has therefore been preserved.