The Brooklyn Bridge Opens

Setting the scene

By the 1870s, New York and Brooklyn were separate cities linked only by ferries across the East River; engineer John A. Roebling proposed a suspension span that would dwarf anything built in America, though his foot was crushed in an 1869 survey accident and his son Washington Roebling later suffered decompression sickness supervising the caisson work.

What happened

After fourteen years of construction and the deaths of roughly twenty workers, the Brooklyn Bridge opened to the public on May 24, 1883, when President Chester A. Arthur and Governor Grover Cleveland crossed from the Manhattan tower amid cannon salutes and a parade of marching bands.

Why it still matters

Emily Warren Roebling, who had relayed her husband Washington's engineering instructions during his illness, was later honored as the bridge's de facto chief engineer; the granite towers and steel cables became the defining symbol of unified New York until the bridge was landmarked in 1967.

Background

Emily Warren Roebling helped oversee completion.