Brooklyn Bridge Granite Towers

The first construction fatalities occurred on october 23 1871 when a pair of derricks used to haul granite blocks to the top of the bridge tower on the brooklyn side suddenly fell.

Brooklyn bridge granite towers.

The work was dangerous. The bridge was the first to use steel for cable wire and during its construction explosives were used inside a pneumatic caisson for the first time. Roebling in the 1850s. Its deck supported by four.

Specifically the work will correct structural deficiencies in the masonry arches of the bridge s approaches on both sides of the east river and will also rehabilitate the. By 1876 three workers had died having fallen from the towers while nine other workers were killed in other accidents. The brooklyn bridge looms majestically over new york city s east river linking the two boroughs of manhattan and brooklyn. The landmark gothic revival massive granite towers of the brooklyn bridge with their arrays of cable and stay structural scheme developed in the usual way for its era.

The last stone on the brooklyn tower was raised in june 1875 and the manhattan tower was completed in july 1876. This drawing of the bridge is an accurate rendition of how the proposed bridge would look. The saddle plates atop both towers were also raised in july 1876. But there s been plenty of history and secrets along the way.

Commercial east river shipping and ferry operators in the 1860s protested when they foresaw that if the east river bridge in new york city proposed by john roebling b 1806. Hulton archives getty images. This print from the mid 1860s shows the contemplated bridge. Brooklyn bridge suspension bridge spanning the east river from brooklyn to manhattan in new york city.

Inside the limestone and granite structures that support the on ramps to the brooklyn bridge designer john a. John roebling severely injured his foot in a freak accident as he was surveying the spot where the brooklyn tower would be built. Since 1883 its granite towers and steel cables have offered a safe. The brooklyn bridge during its construction.

The towers are built of limestone granite and cement. Just as work was beginning on the bridge in the summer of 1869 tragedy struck. Drawings of the brooklyn bridge were first produced by john a. The brooklyn bridge rehabilitation project planned to start by june 2019 will focus on the bridge s approaches and towers bringing them into a state of good repair.