130 years ago today May 24, 1883 the Brooklyn Bridge open to the public! The limestone, granite and steel neo-Gothic marvel connecting downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan has managed to humble and inspire those lucky enough to see it in real life, and especially those lucky enough to stroll across its at-once soaring and human-scaled walkway. I have and it is amazing. When is was built, its towers were the tallest man made structures in North America rising 270 feet above the water, and for several years the longest suspension bridge in the world. Why did they built it, to get to Brooklyn of course. At the time no one imagined that Manhattan would start to build upwards, and running out of space they set their sites on Brooklyn and Long Island. That would all change when the Flatiron building was built, and then later the Woolworth. The bridge was built and I can not imagine what it must have felt like to walk across it on that day in 1883. It must have felt like being on top of the world. Some were afraid to cross it thinking it was going to fall. P.T. Barnum help to ease the doubts when he paraded 21 elephants over it. Happy Birthday to the best bridge of them all!!

Fun Fact: If the borough of Brooklyn was a city, like it was when the bridge was opened, it would be the 4th biggest city in America. The list would be New York ( -Brooklyn), Los Angeles, Chicago, then Brooklyn. Crazy!