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The Brooklyn Bridge Opened 129 Years Ago Today

By

Christopher Robbins

Published May 24, 2012

Modified May 24, 2012

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in part

By

Christopher Robbins

Published May 24, 2012

Modified May 24, 2012

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On May 24, 1883, New York City all but shut down for the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge (then the "East River Bridge") to the public. There was a massive fireworks display, a visit from President Chester A. Arthur and New York governor Grover Cleveland, and some 50,000 people came in from out of town to witness the ceremony. But the Chief Engineer who had shepherded the bridge through its 13 years of construction, Washington Roebling, could only watch the ceremonies from his house in Brooklyn Heights: the bends had debilitated him to the point where he wouldn't walk across his own bridge the day it was completed.

All of the cheery fanfare would take an ugly turn six days later, when 12 people were crushed to death in a stampede of people near the bridge's New York entrance. (The tragedy was caused by a rumor that spread rapidly through the crowd that the bridge was collapsing under the weight of all the pedestrians.) And at least 30 people were killed during the bridge's construction. Ahh, progress.

What many consider to be the definitive account of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, The Great Bridge, was written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough in 1972. The story of how Boss Tweed's meddling almost scuttled the bridge's construction, the daring of the wire-fitters who ran the cables across the world's largest suspension bridge, and how Washington Roebling's wife Emily became a driving force in the bridge's completion, are nothing short of astounding.

Considering that now we use the Brooklyn Bridge to pretense for bitching about slow tourists and sanctimonious cyclists, do yourself a favor and get some perspective by reading this thing.

Tagged

brooklyn bridge

feats of ingenuity

history

pick up a book you bums

washington roebling

Christopher Robbins

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Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.

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