Brooklyn Bridge – how a German family built the New York icon

The Brooklyn Bridge has spanned New York’s East River since 1883 and connects the two boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

But hardly anyone knows that this technical masterpiece was once built by a German family. But they paid a high price for their success.

The Brooklyn Bridge is just as much an integral part of the New York cityscape as the Statue of Liberty or One World Trade Center. Since 1883 it has connected the two boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn across the East River and is crossed by around 150,000 cars and just as many pedestrians every day. However, very few of them are likely to know what a technical masterpiece the construction of the bridge once was. And that a German family built the New York icon.

It was 1867 when, according to History, German immigrant John Augustus Roebling was awarded the contract by the City of New York to build the Brooklyn Bridge. Roebling, who studied industrial engineering in Berlin, has already made a name for himself with two spectacular bridges over the Niagara Gorge and the Ohio River. He himself successfully runs a wire rope production line. He also used the material, which was new at the time, for his buildings.

The Death of the Visionary

Although there were already numerous suspension bridges in the USA at that time, they are still considered to be vulnerable to strong winds or excessive loads. Roebling’s plan to build the 1,800 meter long Brooklyn Bridge, which would be by far the longest in the world, attracted all the more attention. The German engineer spent two years planning the construction of the bridge, which was finally to begin in 1869. Unfortunately, Roebling does not live to see this proud moment again.

As he takes some final measurements for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, a boat crushes several toes on one foot. As a result, Roebling contracted tetanus and died three weeks after the accident, even before the groundbreaking ceremony for his masterpiece. His 32-year-old son, Washington A. Roebling, is now supervising the construction work. He had worked with his father on the plans for the Brooklyn Bridge and had previously worked with him on other projects.

Terrible working conditions

But Washington Roebling also met a terrible fate, caused by the harsh working conditions that prevailed during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Because in order to set the pillars of the bridge, you have to work under water in so-called diving boxes. This is filled with compressed air to prevent the ingress of water. But as a result, many workers die from a terrible phenomenon called decompression sickness.

Even inside the diving boxes, the working conditions are harsh. The warm compressed air sometimes causes the workers severe headaches, itching, nosebleeds or a slow heartbeat. The true, deadly danger, however, is diving to the workplace under water. This is done using an iron container filled with compressed air called an airlock. According to “Apotheken Umschau”, the decompression sickness that sometimes occurs as a result is caused by gas formation in the blood.

A woman as bridge boss

Because the deeper you dive, the higher the ambient pressure. And the higher the concentration of nitrogen in the blood and tissue. When you slowly ascend, this nitrogen is then released from the tissue into the blood again, since the ambient pressure is now falling again. In the airlocks, however, the workers usually returned to the water surface quickly, often with fatal consequences. The nitrogen in her body was then released back into the blood too quickly, sometimes causing speech disorders and cramps, but also paralysis and, in the worst case, fatal pulmonary embolism.

Over a hundred workers suffered decompression sickness during construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. More than two dozen lost their lives as a result of this or other accidents at work. Washington Roebling himself was left paralyzed for the rest of his life after a dive. As a result, he handed over the supervision of the construction work to his wife, Emily Warren Roebling. She continued this for eleven years until the bridge was completed, and she acquired the relevant knowledge herself. From then on, her husband had to follow the construction of the bridge from his house with binoculars.

An astronomically expensive miracle

According to “Encyclopedia Britannica”, numerous accidents still haunt the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge before it could finally be inaugurated. Sometimes a fire breaks out, then one of the diving boxes explodes. An already anchored cable snaps again and falls into the river, and finally a scam by a wire supplier necessitates the replacement of tons of cable.

But on May 24, 1883, the time had finally come. According to “History”, the Brooklyn Bridge will be inaugurated with a grand ceremony by US President Chester A. Arthur and New York Mayor Grover Cleveland. Emily Warren Roebling is the first to cross it, a rooster on her lap as a symbol of technical triumph. Within the first 24 hours, 150,000 pedestrians cross the bridge. Countless people celebrate the inauguration of what was soon to be known, at least in New York, as the “eighth wonder of the world.” Its cost was also truly magical: 15 million dollars, which corresponds to the current value of 320 million dollars.

Stampede and a circus

But the Brooklyn Bridge is far from being the New York icon we know it to be. And that is due to a circumstance that seems bizarre today. Because many people are initially afraid to use what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world. As “Architectural Digest” reports, there is also a stampede shortly after the opening with twelve dead when a woman stumbles on the Brooklyn Bridge. After all, it takes a unique trick to inspire New Yorkers’ confidence in “their” bridge.

Because in order to prove the resilience of the Brooklyn Bridge, you simply send a complete circus over it. On May 17, 1884, he crossed the full length of the bridge with his 21 elephants. According to the news channel “CBS”, one million people celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge on the building. On September 11, 2001, it became a symbol of a national tragedy when people used it to flee after the attacks on the World Trade Center twin towers.

Today, more than a million people visit the Brooklyn Bridge every year, according to the Go New York site. It has long been one of the most famous buildings in New York and the United States. And the USA owes this to a German immigrant family.