January 3: On This Day in World History … briefly
Brooklyn Bridge was conceived by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling in 1852, who spent part of the next 15 years working to sell the idea.
1869: Construction of Brooklyn Bridge commences
The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City conceived by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling in 1852. He had previously designed and constructed shorter suspension bridges, such as Roebling’s Delaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, and the John A Roebling Suspension Bridge between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky.
The bridge connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, spanning the East River. The Brooklyn Bridge has a main span of 1 595.5 feet (486.3m) and a height of 276.5 ft (84.3 m) above mean high water. It is one of the oldest roadway bridges in the United States and was the world’s first steel-wire suspension bridge, as well as the first fixed crossing across the East River.
The Brooklyn Bridge started construction in 1869 and was completed fourteen years later in 1883. It was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and the East River Bridge, but it was later dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge, a name coming from an earlier January 25, 1867, letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and formally so named by the city government in 1915.
Over the years, the Brooklyn Bridge has undergone several re-configurations; it formerly carried horse-drawn vehicles and elevated railway lines, but now carries vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic. Commercial vehicles are banned from the bridge.
Since opening, the Brooklyn Bridge has become an icon of New York City, ranking among the city’s most popular tourist attractions. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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