diff --git a/lib/sinatra/base.rb b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
index ea154fb4..5a4f3d88 100644
--- a/lib/sinatra/base.rb
+++ b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ module Sinatra
     # Use the contents of the file at +path+ as the response body.
     def send_file(path, opts={})
       stat = File.stat(path)
-      last_modified stat.mtime
+      last_modified(opts[:last_modified] || stat.mtime)
 
       if opts[:type] or not response['Content-Type']
         content_type opts[:type] || File.extname(path), :default => 'application/octet-stream'
diff --git a/test/helpers_test.rb b/test/helpers_test.rb
index f6696385..1bb78200 100644
--- a/test/helpers_test.rb
+++ b/test/helpers_test.rb
@@ -419,6 +419,13 @@ class HelpersTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       assert_equal File.mtime(@file).httpdate, response['Last-Modified']
     end
 
+    it 'allows passing in a differen Last-Modified response header with :last_modified' do
+      time = Time.now
+      send_file_app :last_modified => time
+      get '/file.txt'
+      assert_equal time.httpdate, response['Last-Modified']
+    end
+
     it "returns a 404 when not found" do
       mock_app {
         get '/' do