At the beginning of the 20th century, the Prussian state saw the need to create a waterway connection between the Rhine, Weser and Elbe and thus a west-east waterway north of the low mountain range. The Prussian ministerial director and hydraulic engineer Leo Sympher was commissioned to take over the planning for this. As a result, on April 1, 1905, the law on the construction of the Mittelland Canal was passed under the name "Rhein-Weser Canal" from the Dortmund-Ems Canal in the west to Hanover in the east. The construction was completed by 1916 despite considerable difficulties in the First World War. On December 5, 1920 it was decided to continue the canal eastwards to the Elbe. In addition to the economically necessary inland waterway, consideration of job creation in an economically difficult environment also played an increasing role in planning and construction. Leo Sympher left the active service at this point.
The first bridge, which opened in 1915, was supplemented in 1998 by a second bridge with a larger profile in order to enable the new, larger, large motor ships. From this point on, the old bridge will only be used by pleasure boats; Commercial shipping will only take place over the new bridge. The city of Minden entered the old canal bridge in 1987 in its list of monuments as a memorial to the cityscape.
Source: Wikipedia