On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge opened in New York City. At the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and certainly one of the most recognized. Spanning the East River, it linked the boroughs of Manhattan with Brooklyn and by the mid-1920s was carrying an estimated 45,000 vehicles daily. Besides representing a civil engineering feat of remarkable ingenuity, the Brooklyn Bridge quickly became one of the city's defining architectural reference points. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark. The story of its construction is equally noteworthy, not least for the fact that one of the project's chief engineers was a woman, a rare position of authority for a female in the 1800s. So, how did they build the Brooklyn Bridge, and what methods did they employ?
Click through and learn more about one of the most iconic bridges ever conceived.