The current Pine Street Bridge is the fourth bridge to cross Deer Creek in Nevada City. All but the first bridge were located at this site.

The first bridge was downstream of the current site, a short distance from Bonanza Market and Miners Foundry on Bridge Street. This log bridge was at creek level and would wash out each winter.

In 1862, Nevada City hired Andrew S. Hallidie, a 25 year-old engineer from San Francisco, to construct a one-lane suspension bridge at Pine Street. This new location raised the bridge surface to a safer level above Deer Creek. Bridge parts were fabricated in San Francisco and brought to Nevada County by train and wagon through Folsom and Marysville (before the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad was built). This bridge was heralded as the largest suspension bridge in California at the time.

Hallidie later created the world's first cable car system in San Francisco using the same steel cable technology that he had used for this bridge and other suspension bridges in California.

In 1903, the suspension bridge was replaced by the Gault Bridge, a two-lane bridge designed to accommodate automobiles. The Gault Bridge was a three hinge, laced arch truss bridge, constructed from painted carbon steel built over the existing one-lane stone abutments.

In 1996, the Gault Bridge was demolished for safety reasons and replaced by a replica.