YESTERDAYS and TOMORROWS

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Brooklyn Bridge

(Line drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge by master mechanic E.F. Farrington from "Concise Description of the East River Bridge," published by C.D. Wynkoop Printers, 1881.)

"The work which is most likely to become our most durable monument, and to convey some knowledge of us to the most remote posterity, is a work of bare utility; not a shrine, not a fortress, not a palace, but a bridge." - Harper's Weekly (1883)

The Brooklyn Bridge and South Street Seaport in 1900. (Photo by Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection, LC-D4-90107.)

The Brooklyn Bridge and the Lower Manhattan skyline in 1932. (Photo by Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, LC-G612-17798.)

http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/brooklyn/

But the bridge’s early days weren’t without tragedy. During the 13 years of construction, 27 workers reportedly lost their lives. That includes its designer, John Augustus Roebling, who succumbed to tetanus acquired on the job. His son, Washington Roebling, succeeded him, but not without developing the bends in 1872. (Yep, these are the Roeblings of Roebling Street in Williamsburg.)

Worst of all was the stampede that occurred on May 30, 1883, the Sunday after opening day. Thousands packed the walkways to stroll across the new bridge. At a staircase on the New York side, masses of walkers somehow began pushing and shoving one another. In the end, 12 people were trampled, as this Brooklyn Daily Eagle headline sums up.

http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/trampled-on-the-brooklyn-bri...