The Brooklyn Bridge Opens Across the East River

On May 24, 1883, the New York and Brooklyn Bridge opened to traffic, creating the first permanent fixed span across the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. At the time of its completion, the crossing was the longest suspension bridge in the world, featuring a central span extending 1,595.5 feet and clearing the water below by 135 feet at its center. Initial proposals for a permanent connection had emerged at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but practical execution began only after civil engineer John Augustus Roebling's design for a grand suspension structure was accepted in 1867.

Tragedy struck the Roebling family before physical excavation began. In 1869, while examining the site of the Brooklyn tower from a ferry slip, John Roebling had his toes crushed when a docking boat struck the slip, and he died of tetanus about three weeks later. His thirty-two-year-old son, Washington Roebling, assumed the role of chief engineer. Washington immediately began work on the foundations for the two towers, under the oversight of the New York Bridge Company.