| Brooklyn
Bridge History:
In the early 1830's, the idea of a wire rope was non-existent...'that
is until John August Roebling came along and presented the notion
to the world. Known to be a great engineer, metaphysician, inventor,
spiritualist and businessman, Roebling's company, Roebling &
Sons Company had designed and built 9 bridges before he came along
and proposed the linking of Manhattan and Brooklyn with a suspension
bridge for which he was pretty much laughed at. At that time, travel
between the two communities was mainly done by ferry. 'And well,
the winter of 1866 - '67 were one of the most brutal winters ever
on record for the area. This wasn't too great a situation for the
ferry boats that had to make it through the ice and the wind swept
waters. It was after this winter that John Roebling was commissioned
to build the bridge.
He died after developing tetanus poisoning from an injury he suffered
while locating the site for the Brooklyn tower of the bridge.
After his death, John Roebling's son, Colonel Washington A. Roebling
was appointed chief engineer of the project. But, his health, too,
was to be greatly impacted by his involvement in the bridge. Being
a bit too dedicated to this project and suffering great pressures,
the Colonel had a minor accident, and ended up with the bends .
He'd taken a room on the Brooklyn side near the bridge and watched,
through a telescope, the goings-on. Through his wife, he relayed
his instructions to the foreman and crew.
But it's good to say that this all wasn't the end of him!. He was
there at the bridge's opening and continued to work with and assist
in the success of Roebling's Sons Company.
Note: Roeblings Sons Company was also responsible for NYC's Williamsburg
Bridge, Manhattan Bridge & the George Washington Bridge. These
are just a few of the many other bridges they've been involved with.
|
Brooklyn
Bridge Tidbits:
20 men died in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Originally, the Bridge had 5 lanes, 2 outer lanes for horse drawn
carriages, the middles lanes for a cable train and the fifth lane
to be an elevated promenade for pedestrians. It was in 1944 that
the El trains which crossed the bridge at the time were eliminated.
Today, it has 6 lanes of traffic.
One week after the date of inception, 12 pedestrians were killed
and 35 injured in a panicked rush/crush. Apparently, while walking
along, one women had tripped and her female companion screamed.
From this, a rumor circulated around very quickly that the bridge
was about to collapse, thus the panic that ensued.
In 1884, P.T. Barnum, (yes, that circus fella!), took 21 elephants
across the bridge...I guess to prove a point? Well, the point was
well taken. The bridge sure as heck didn't fall and alot of minds
were eased.
In 1882, Robert Emmett Odlum announced he would jump off the bridge
on a $200 bet....'well, the cops were really on to him. He'd kept
trying and trying till he finally did it in 1885. His body had hit
the waters at the wrong angle and he died less than 1/2 an hour
later....
1886, Steve Brodie claimed to have survived a dive off the bridge,
and to prove it, he opened a tavern featuring an oil painting of
the event and an affidavit from the barge captain who fished him
out of the river.....
Of course there were many other attempts
at jumping off this bridge in the many years that followed,
but more recently:
In Early 1999, Robert Landeta, a 31yr old Brooklyn resident who
had worked as a film stunt man tried to gain fame and break the
Guinness Book record by climbing five bridges in four hours. This
member of the Actors Screen Guild had even gotten a 14 yr old friend
to tape the stunt. Unfortunately, he didn't make it and landed 500
feet into the Brooklyn pavement on Front Street. According to police
who'd seen the taped video, Landeta had died instantly. |
