Brooklyn Bridge Opens
The Brooklyn Bridge was hailed as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ when it was officially opened on May 24, 1883. The suspension bridge linking the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn became a symbol of America’s progress and ingenuity. The bridge has a span of 1,595 feet with 16-inch steel wire suspension cables fastened to Gothic-style arches 276 feet tall. Civil engineer John A. Roebling, inventor of the steel wire cable and designer of the bridge, was killed in a construction accident at the outset of construction in 1869. His son and partner, Washington A. Roebling, supervised the project to its completion in spite of a debilitating illness.
Photo: c1898. From Library of Congress
