The Brooklyn Bridge opens in New York City
On this day · 24 May 1883
When it opened in 1883, the steel-cabled span over the East River was the longest suspension bridge on Earth.
On May 24, 1883, with schools and businesses closed for the occasion, New York threw open the Brooklyn Bridge, the first fixed crossing of the East River. Its main span stretched 1,595.5 feet — breaking every world record and standing as the longest suspension bridge of its day, fully 50 percent longer than anything built before.
The bridge was a family ordeal. John Roebling designed it, then died of an injury before construction began. His son Washington Roebling took over as chief engineer but was crippled by decompression sickness from the underwater caissons; his wife, Emily Roebling, relayed his orders and effectively saw the project through.
Within a day of opening, an estimated quarter-million people walked across.
It was among the first major structures to use steel cables, a gamble that paid off and set the template for the great bridges to come. More than a century later, it still carries traffic — and tourists — across the river.
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