One architectural critic of Brooklyn Bridge wrote: “It so happens that 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.” (Curlee 1) Most often bridges are built of practical necessity, but then they stand to represent an astonishing marriage of technology and art (Dupre 1). This is especially true with the Brooklyn Bridge whose “magnificent site, breath-taking span, cutting-edge technology, and sheer beauty have made it the subject of poems, paintings, photographs, novels, plays, and movies.” (Curlee 1)
I strongly believe that investigation of the Brooklyn Bridge construction should start with outlining the facts that mark it out other architectural buildings of the type. Actually, the Bridge was the building of many firsts. It was the first suspension bridge to use steel for its cable wire, to use explosives in a caisson, a special dangerous underwater device. Moreover, at the time of its construction 3, 460-foot Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world (Wonders of the World).
The Brooklyn Bridge stretches over the East River connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The plans to cross the East River date back to the beginning of the XIX century. The bridge was planned as a solution to overcrowding in Manhattan while enhancing development in Brooklyn. With a new bridge, people could easily cross the East River paying no attention to weather conditions (Brooklyn Bridge).
Still, for a long time, nothing had been done to realize the plans concerning building the bridge. The main problem was the nature of the East River. According to David McCullough (1983), it was
a tidal strait and one of the most turbulent and in that day, especially, one of the busiest stretches of navigable salt water anywhere on earth. “If there is to be a bridge,” wrote one man, “it must take one grand flying leap from shore to shore over the masts of the ships. There can be no piers or drawbridges. There must be only one great arch all the way across. Surely this must be a wonderful bridge.” (24)
A German-born civil engineer John Roebling was destined to become the author of one of the finest examples of architectural art. He worked out a detailed plan for building the bridge and presented it to eight people’s opinions. The eight were the seven consultants he had selected and his oldest son, Colonel Washington.
They met at the Brooklyn Gas Light Company on Fulton Street, where the New Bridge Company had been conducting its affairs until regular offices could be arranged for. They gathered about the big plans and drawings he had on display, listening attentively as he talked and asking a great many questions. They studied his preliminary surveys and the map upon which he had drawn a strong red line cutting across the East River, indicating exactly where he intended to put the crowning work of his career (McCullough 21).
In 1870 Roebling was named an engineer of the work. At an early stage of the construction, the bridge was called the Empire Bridge. Though, it was also commonly referred to as the Roebling Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, or the Great Bridge which looked the most impressive in print.
The city of Brooklyn subscribed for $3 million of the capital stock, and the city of New York subscribed for $1.5 million. To resolve doubts of those who questioned the necessity of the bridge, the chief engineer proved that projected growth in New York and Brooklyn would require the construction of additional bridges. Namely, Roebling outlined the would-be construction of the Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges further north along the East River (Brooklyn Bridge).
But before the actual bridge construction began John A. Roebling died from tetanus. His son, Washington Roebling took over as the chief engineer of the project. However, three years later he developed a crippling illness called caisson’s disease. The thing is that conditions of work in the caissons were miserable. The bridge construction workers did not only suffer from lack of electricity, telephones, or other conveniences, they experienced fires, explosions, and developed caisson disease that was caused by changes in air pressure that affect nitrogen levels in the bloodstream (Brooklyn Bridge). All cited above took the lives of twenty men engaged in the construction.
Still, it is worthwhile admitting that the caisson disease did not prevent Roebling from being in charge. For all the fourteen years the construction of the bridge lasted he guided it without ever leaving his apartment. He had a telescope to observe the bridge’s progress. Roebling’s wife Emily was a “transmitter” of his instructions and orders to the workers.
More problems the Brooklyn Bridge was plagued with were unexpected blasts that ruined one caisson and the fire that damaged another. Because of this a cable snapped from its anchorage and crashed into the river (Wonders of the World).
Notwithstanding the problems, the construction continued. Between 1873 and 1877 “the 276-foot neo-Gothic granite towers, which featured two arched portals, were built to withstand strong winds and provide support for rail lines.” (Brooklyn Bridge) The towers got the following description in McCullough’s work:
The towers were to serve two very fundamental purposes. They would bear the weight of four enormous cables, and they would hold both the cables and the roadway of the bridge high enough so they would not interfere with traffic on the river. Were the two cities at higher elevations, where they set on cliffs, or palisades such as those along the New Jersey side of the Hudson, for example, such lofty steelwork would not be necessary. As it was, however, only very tall towers could make up for what nature had failed to provide if there was to be the desired clearance for sailing ships. And as the mass of the anchorages had to be sufficient to offset the pull of the cables, where they were secured on land, so the mass of the towers, whatever their height, had to be sufficient to withstand the colossal downward pressure of the cables as they passed over the tops of the towers (McCullough 56).
In August 1876, for the first time in bridge construction history, a wire rope linked the two anchorages. According to McCullough, the wire rope was made as ordinary hemp wire rope that means that it had hundreds of fine wires twisted to form it. “The cables, however, would be made of wire about as thick as a lead pencil, with thousands of wires to a cable, all “laid up” straight, parallel to one another, and then wrapped with an outer skin of soft wire, the way the bass strings of a piano are wrapped.” (McCullough 76)
One more peculiar feature of the Brooklyn Bridge architecture is that it had a very strong truss system. This contributed to the long life of the Bridge that is still standing, whereas many bridges of the same age have stopped their existence.
As it was already mentioned, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first to use steel for four cables. Until the Brooklyn Bridge construction suspension cables were made of iron. In his article in The American Railroad Journal Roebling pointed at the weaknesses of such constructions and defended his use of steel wire. Thus, having deviated from the tradition he created a sort of revolution in bridge construction.
The final touches to the Brooklyn Bridge were added in 1883: two terminal buildings were constructed at the Manhattan and Brooklyn ends of the bridge and seventy blue-white electric arc lamps were installed at equal intervals along the promenade (Brooklyn Bridge).
The final preparations were made, the bridge opened to the public on May 24, 1883, at 2:00 p.m. more than 150 000 people crossed the bridge on an opening day. Everyone was charged one cent to cross the bridge. At 5:00 the Bridge was opened to vehicles, a total of 1,800 of them crossed it that day. Nowadays the bridge is known as the second busiest bridge in New York City (Wonders of the World).
I would like to conclude with Lynn Curlee’s words:
Beneath Brooklyn Bridge’s triumphant arches lie astonishing tales of death, deception, genius, and daring. Over the fourteen-year course of its construction, there were many deaths, including that of John A. Roebling, designer and chief engineer; an underwater fire; and even fraud (Curlee 1).
Nevertheless, the construction proved to the whole world the power of American ingenuity and became a really immortal symbol of it. Also, the Brooklyn Bridge became a symbol of the greatness of New York and the American nation as a whole.
Works Cited
Curlee, Lynn. Brooklyn Bridge. New York: Atheneum Books For Young Readers, 2001.
Dupre, Judith. Bridges: A History of the World’s Most Famous and Important Spans. Black Dog & Leventhal, 1997.
Mann, Elizabeth, ed. The Brooklyn Bridge: The story of the world’s most famous bridge and the remarkable family that built it. (Wonders of the World Book) Mikaya Press, 2006.
McCullough, David. The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Simon & Schuster, 1983.
Trachtenberg, Alan. Brooklyn Bridge: Fact and Symbol. 2nd ed. University Of Chicago Press, 1979.
“Brooklyn Bridge.” Nycroads. 2008. Web.
“Wonders of the World.” WGBH Educational Foundation. 2008. Web.