Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge

New York and the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn,
New York, New York, copyright 1913.
Taking the Long View, 1851-1991

On June 12, 1806, John A. Roebling, civil engineer and designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, was born in Muehlhausen, Prussia. The Brooklyn Bridge, Roebling's greatest achievement, spans the East River to connect Manhattan with Brooklyn. For nearly a decade after its completion, the bridge, with a main span of 1595 feet, was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Steel wire cable, invented and manufactured by Roebling, made the structure possible.

When the Brooklyn Bridge was opened you had to pay three cents to cross it until it was paid for. When they opened the bridge everybody went to see it..It took them 14 years to build the Brooklyn bridge.

"David A. Lawrence,"
New York, New York,
Dorothy West, interviewer,
September 6, 1938.
American Life Histories, 1936-1940

On the other side are the long pierhouses and the ships and Brooklyn Bridge is to be seen from any part of South Street and no fooling it is really "of harp and anvil fused," as [the poet Hart] Crane said.

"Forty Fathoms"
New York, New York,
Saul Levitt, interviewer,
November 29, 1938.
American Life Histories, 1936-1940

On the Promenade,
Brooklyn Bridge,
New York, New York,
copyright 1899.
Prints and Photographs Division

In 1869, Roebling died from tetanus he had contracted in an accident on the bridge pilings. From 1870 on, Roebling's son and partner, Washington A. Roebling, supervised construction. A series of mishaps, including an explosion, fire, and contractor fraud hampered completion of the project.

Pneumatic caissons sunk to a depth of forty-four feet on the Brooklyn side, and seventy-eight feet on the Manhattan side provided dry space for workers to dig footings for the bridge's foundation. Alas, working in the caisson often brought on "the bends" -- a serious medical condition caused by moving too quickly from a high-pressure atmosphere to a low-pressure atmosphere. Washington Roebling was among many workers permanently impaired by the then little understood "caisson disease."

The Brooklyn Bridge opened to citywide celebration on May 24, 1883. Over the next hundred years the bridge became part of the romance of New York City. Poets and artists have long found the bridge a worthy subject. The Brooklyn Bridge continues to serve as the backdrop in countless photographs and films. It plays roles both real and fanciful in the American memory.

Panorama Water Front and Brooklyn Bridge from East River,
Thomas A. Edison, Inc., copyright 1903.
Life of a City, 1898-1906.

Panorama Water Front and Brooklyn Bridge from East River is one of 45 films of New York dating from 1898 to 1906 available in Life of a City, 1898-1906. This film shows the East River shoreline and the busy piers of lower Manhattan starting at about Pier 5 (the New York Central Pier) opposite Broad Street, and extending to the Mallory Line steamship piers just south of Fulton Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Learn more about the Brooklyn Bridge in American Memory:

• Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920 contains over fifty photographs of the Brooklyn Bridge, including pictures of the Manhattan entrance and the approach from the Brooklyn side. Search the collection on Brooklyn Bridge.
• Early Motion Pictures, 1897-1916 contains New Brooklyn to New York via Brooklyn Bridge footage of a trip across the Brooklyn Bridge in September 1899.
• Several Today in History pages focus on New York City landmarks. Read features on the Metropolitan Opera House, Radio City Music Hall, and Central Park.
• Search Taking the Long View, 1851-1991 on bridges to access nearly one hundred remarkable panoramic photographs of bridges.