The Brooklyn Bridge

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The Brooklyn Bridge
Plans for a crossing between the city of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan dated back to the early 1800's. When the East River crossing was planned, Brooklyn was still more rural than urban. The city of New York, which at the time consisted only of Manhattan, had twice as many residents (400,000), and the bridge was seen as a solution to overcrowding in Manhattan while spurring development in Brooklyn. The bridge would enable people and goods to cross the East River quickly, regardless of weather conditions.
In 1855, John Roebling, a famous bridge designer, proposed a suspension bridge over the East River after becoming impatient with the Atlantic Avenue-Fulton Street Ferry. Roebling worked out every detail of the bridge, from its granite towers to its four steel cables. He thought his design entitled the bridge to be ranked as a national monument and a great work of art.
Roebling had experience with suspension spans, with bridges along the Delaware, Niagara and Ohio Rivers. The first of these was in 1848. The Delaware Aqueduct between Lackawwaxen, Pennsylvania and Minisink Ford, New York, is the oldest surviving suspension bridge in America. The second, the Niagara Suspension Bridge, served rail and carriage traffic until it was replaced with a stronger steel-arch bridge in 1891. The third in 1867 was the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge, which had been significantly strengthened in the 1890's with the addition of a steel deck truss, and remains in service today.
Roebling approached William C. Kingsley, a Brooklyn businessman with political connections and who was also a publisher for the influential Brooklyn Eagle. Kingsley was very enthusiastic about the idea of the bridge. In turn, he added the support of Henry Murphy, a state senator and former mayor of Brooklyn. Murphy then drafted a bill to the New York State Legislature that would enable a private company to build a bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn.
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