BROOKLYN  BRIDGE

Spans the East River from 
Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most famous architectural landmarks in New York. It has been called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" and has been praised by such authors as Walt Whitman, Hart Crane and Lewis Mumford. The Brooklyn Bridge spans the East River and connects Brooklyn to lower Manhattan. It was originally designed to handle horse and buggy traffic along with pedestrians. Today, as one of the three bridges that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan, it handles thousands of automobiles and pedestrians everyday.

According to legend, John Augustus Roebling came up with idea for the Brooklyn Bridge when the ferry that was then the only way to get to Manhattan, wasn’t able to run because of inclement weather. He looked across the ice flows that bottled up the ferry and knew that there must be a better way...

Roebling began work in 1867, but the task of such a monumental undertaking was fraught with danger. Roebling died from gangrene two years after construction began when a ferryboat accidentally crushed his foot. His son Washington took over construction, but was himself crippled when he got the bends from working underwater on the bridge’s towers. In an unprecedented move, Washington’s wife Emily took over construction by relaying her husband’s bedside commands and overseeing the workers.

When the bridge was first opened in 1883, nobody would be the first to walk over a bridge completed by a woman. Fortunately, the circus was in town and Emily was able to prove the bridge’s strength by walking a herd of elephants across the walkway. However, twelve pedestrians were still killed that day when the rumors of the bridge’s collapse created a stampede. (People not elephants)

The bridge itself is over six thousand feet long and was the longest suspension bridge in the world for many years. It’s construction was national news and grew to symbolize the country’s progress and imagination.