The Brooklyn Bridge killed its creator before the first cable was strung. In June eighteen sixty-nine, John Augustus Roebling was surveying the site when a docking boat crushed his foot. His toes were amputated. He developed tetanus. He was dead within three weeks.
His son Washington took over at thirty-two. He spent months working in the underwater caissons — massive airtight wooden boxes sunk to the riverbed so workers could dig foundations beneath the water. The deeper they dug, the more men started collapsing. They called it "caisson disease." We call it the bends. Twenty men died during the fourteen-year construction. Washington himself was crippled by it and spent the rest of the build watching through a telescope from his Brooklyn apartment.
His wife Emily effectively ran the project. She studied mathematics, cable construction, and bridge engineering, becoming the first person to cross the completed bridge on May twenty-fourth, eighteen eighty-three. President Chester Arthur walked behind her. The bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world and the first to use steel wire for its cables.
Walk it from the Brooklyn side for the best view. The wooden pedestrian boardwalk is elevated above the car lanes, and the Gothic stone towers frame Manhattan as you approach. It is one of the most beautiful walks in any city.
Verified Facts
John Augustus Roebling died of tetanus in 1869 after his foot was crushed during a survey of the bridge site
Twenty workers died during the fourteen-year construction (1869-1883)
Washington Roebling was crippled by caisson disease and observed construction through a telescope from his Brooklyn apartment
Emily Warren Roebling effectively managed the project and was the first person to cross the completed bridge on May 24, 1883
It was the longest suspension bridge in the world when completed and the first to use steel wire cables
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