The story of the legendary Brooklyn Bridge. A PHOTO

The most famous - Brooklyn - New York Bridge will celebrate its 25th anniversary on May 135. The longest suspension bridge on steel bars at the end of the XNUMXth century became a miracle of technological progress for the world. Even today he never ceases to amaze with the beauty of his neo-Gothic style. Also, a lot of interesting and, at times, tragic historical facts are connected with the main New York bridge.

Construction

Brooklyn Bridge is not always so called. Officially, he became Brooklyn only in 1915 year, before that he was called the bridge of New York and Brooklyn or Istriorsky bridge. Before 1898, New York (Manhattan Island) and Brooklyn were different cities. In a sense, the famous bridge helped them to get closer and, eventually, merge into one metropolis.

The construction of a huge, at that time the greatest suspension bridge in the world, spread over 1825 meters, continued for 13 years. The bridge project was designed by German immigrant John Roebling, who had previously built suspension bridges in Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio. But as a result of the accident, the engineer seriously injured his leg. An infection got into the wound, and soon he died from the incurable tetanus at that time.

Construction of the bridge began on 3 on January 1870 of the year. Washington Robbling, the son of the deceased architect, whom his father instructed to continue his work, took over the project. However, an unenviable fate awaited him. Robbling, who had to dive into the East River, fell ill with a caisson disease in the first months of his work. It arises from a rapid decrease in the pressure of inhaled air. He was paralyzed. But he did not leave construction management, continuing over the next 11 years to give instructions to engineers through his spouse Emily. Emily Robling studied advanced mathematics and engineering to help her husband build a bridge as efficiently as possible.

Building a bridge is a dangerous and challenging job. In total, 27 workers died during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge cost $ 15,5 million, a very large sum for those times.

What if he collapses?

On the opening day, May 24, 1883, 150 people walked across the bridge and 300 vehicles, mostly horse-drawn carts, passed. The opening ceremony was attended by the 1st US President Chester Arthur, who walked across the bridge with New York Mayor Franklin Edson. At the Brooklyn end of the bridge, they were met by Brooklyn Mayor Seth Law. The head of the project, Washington Roebling, was not allowed to see the presentation of his creation.

Soon after the discovery, and possibly before it, rumors spread around New York that the bridge was unreliable and was about to collapse. This was taken on faith by many narrow-minded residents, which provoked a colossal crush on the 30 bridge in May, 6 days after its opening. The bridge did not collapse, but 12 people were trampled to death.

A year later, on May 17 of 1884, businessman Phineas Barnum proved the reliability of the bridge to those who doubted by parading the 21 elephant over it. Thus he also made an excellent advertisement for his own circus.

Despite the fact that fears about the collapse of the Brooklyn Bridge were superfluous, the bridges in the United States did fall apart several times. The last time this happened was in 2007, when the 1-35W bridge collapsed across the highway in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This then caused a lot of doubts regarding the Brooklyn Bridge. In addition, fears have fueled the fact that, according to the results of a test that took place several years ago, the condition of the bridge was recognized as “unsatisfactory”. However, the New York Department of Transportation has repeatedly stressed that this does not apply to the safety of the bridge as a whole, but only to the need to repair some of its parts. The restoration work, for which $ 508 million was allocated, began in the 2010 year and continued until the 2014 year.

Famous bridge and terrorists

In 1994, Lebanese Rashid Baz opened fire on a minibus in which Orthodox Jews belonging to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement were traveling. 16-year-old Ari Halbershtam was mortally wounded, injured three more. A young man died in hospital from his wounds. Rashid Baz was given 141 a year in prison. However, only in 2000, his actions were recognized as terrorist. The entrance to the bridge from the side of Manhattan is named in memory of Ari Halberstam.

Another attack, planned by al-Qaeda in 2003, was fortunately prevented. Truck driver Liman Faris was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for helping al-Qaeda. The terrorists were going to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge, cutting the steel ropes.

Bunker with supplies under the bridge

The bridge is famous not only for sad events. Not so long ago, in the 2006 year, under the Brooklyn Bridge from the Manhattan East Side discovered the Cold War bunker, which was built in case of a nuclear attack from the USSR. In the bunker found canned food, other food and essentials.

In addition, the bridge was twice at the center of the country's news when the New York Transport Workers Union held large-scale strikes: in 1980 and 2005. Both mayors of the megalopolis (Edward Koch in 1980 and Michael Bloomberg in 2005) in solidarity with the New Yorkers, who had to endure the inconvenience due to lack of public transport, walked across the bridge on foot, getting to the city hall in the morning.

Free virtual bridge tour

The Brooklyn Bridge also influenced art, inspiring writers, poets and filmmakers. The modernist poet of the early 20 century, Hart Crane dedicated an ode to him. His poetry collection “The Bridge” is still considered the highest achievement. The Brooklyn Bridge is mentioned in many novels and short stories, and also appeared in a variety of films that are set in New York.

The National Historic Landmarks of the Brooklyn Bridge were ranked in 1964, although it became a symbol of New York long before that. With 1980's, the bridge is illuminated at night. At night, his graceful neo-gothic architecture looks very different than during the day.

About Brooklyn Bridge, you can talk for a long time. But it is better to go and see for yourself. The bridge is beautiful both in the afternoon and in the evening. Owners of smartphones and iPhones can download on the website www.brooklynbridgetour.com Free app with 40-minute video tour of the Brooklyn Bridge. A virtual tour begins on the Manhattan side of the bridge. Most interestingly, this program was created by Christian Roebling, the great-great-grandson of Washington Robling, an engineer who built a bridge.