Brooklyn Bound : New York Diaries Part-1

By: Barnali Bose, Editor-ICN Group

Brooklyn Bound :

Brooklyn is named after a Dutch town called “Breukelen”. From Europe,the Dutch  were the first to migrate to the area. They  settled in  the town in 1634 as part of the colony of New Netherland.

During the 19th century, Brooklyn expanded and filled Kings County. It remained a separate city till  the people there voted to join New York City in 1898.

A visit to New York is said to be  incomplete without the experience of a stroll on the Brooklyn  Bridge and rightly so as I was to discover for myself.

An evening  stroll on The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge looms majestically over New York City’s East River, linking the two boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Since 1883, its granite towers and steel cables have offered a safe and scenic passage to millions of commuters and tourists, trains and bicycles, pushcarts and cars.

It stretches for a length of about 1.8 km. The bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in  the United States.

 

The Brooklyn Bridge has proven itself as one of New York’s most recognizable, and photogenic landmarks. At least as far as Hollywood is concerned, the iconic bridge has enjoyed cameos in dozens of movies over the years. A few that come to my mind are Manhattan, Spiderman,  Godzilla, The French Connection and  Enchanted.

Even in Bollywood films, whenever New York has been  a viable location , scenes have been picturized on Brooklyn Bridge.  The picturesque scenes of  Ta Ra Rum Pum and Kal Ho Na Ho  shot  years back on the bridge  have lingered on in my memory for years.

As we  walked over from Manhattan to the point where the iconic Brooklyn  Bridge stands tall as if beckoning one and all, I was drawn to it by its magnetic pull. When that day, for the first time ever, I tread on  the majestic  bridge, it was an exhilarating feeling, a feeling that was inexplicably special.

 

A walk along the Pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge is a walk like none other. The view from the Brooklyn side is more enthralling as the Manhattan skyline  forms the backdrop.

The two masonry towers to which the many cables are attached are like two mighty sentinels guarding the bridge.

 

However if you are walking from  Manhattan to Brooklyn, just remember to  linger  and look back, which is easy to do from the Neo-Gothic bridge towers.

We paused  every now and then, as did most other pedestrians to capture  scenes on camera to carry home, a slice of the magnificent structure. We clicked shots with ourselves in the foreground of the colossal structure.

The elevated pedestrian path gave us the opportunity to cross the river without being bothered by the traffic that was rushing  past, a level below. One can look through the gaps of the wooden walkways and view the motorway below.

However there was quite a rush on the bridge and as such we had to be careful not to tread on the bicycle lane that ran parallel to the pedestrian pathway.

That the bridge is not only  an engineering marvel but aesthetically pleasing too is an indisputable fact.

When we reached the farthest point of the bridge in Brooklyn, we walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge Park and rested for awhile.

The reddish golden hues  of the setting sun lingered  on the Brooklyn bridge before splashing its palette of colours on the   New York skyline.

I stood and glanced in awe at one  man-made colossal  wonder  in the foreground of the other. I wondered whether  one did not intimidate the other.

The Story Behind The Construction

Brooklyn Bridge was designed by John Augustus Roebling. Just before construction began in 1869, Roebling was fatally injured while taking a few final compass readings across the East River.

A boat smashed the toes on one of his feet, and three weeks later he died of tetanus. His 32-year-old son, Washington A. Roebling, took over as chief engineer.

Unfortunately, more than 100 workers suffered from what was called  ” caisson disease “, including Washington Roebling himself. He  remained partially paralyzed for the rest of his life.

He was forced to watch with a telescope while his wife Emily took charge of the bridge’s construction.

The bridge’s construction took 14 years to be completed, involved 600 workers and cost $15 million (more than $320 million in today’s dollars).

The Bridge- An Engineering Marvel  Unveiled

Huge crowds gathered on May 24, 1883, to watch the Brooklyn Bridge’s opening ceremony, which The New York Times described as “the greatest gala day in the history of that moral suburb.”

President Chester A. Arthur, New York Governor (and future president) Grover Cleveland and various local politicians marched onto the bridge, accompanied by a military band and an attachment of troops.

Besides a cannon being fired,  the festivities  included an hour-long fireworks display, receptions and a number of speeches.

Just before midnight,the bridge opened to the public, and more than 150,000 people streamed across over the next 24 hours.

However, many Irish people boycotted the ceremony because it coincided with the birthday of British monarch Queen Victoria.

On Memorial Day, just after a week of it being open to public,an estimated 20,000 people were on the bridge when  suddenly, the crowd went berserk.

Later it was known  that a rumour  that  it was about to collapse had triggered  the panic. In the resultant stampede, twelve people  died and many were badly injured.

An interesting fact is that on May 17, 1884,  circus entertainer,  P.T Barnum marched 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge to prove that it was stable. Since then, the bridge has been a colossal monument of unwavering   tourist interest and a daily commute for the locals.

Related posts