Opening of the Brooklyn Bridge:mybrooklynbridge.com, the home of Friends of the Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 24, 1893, with a glorious fireworks display.
In 1903, Edwin S. Porter of Thomas Edison Studio photogrpahed a train ride across the bridge as a commuter would have seen
the view out the front window. Watch for the horse and buggies and the light poles that still exist today.
The grand display of fireworks and illuminations at the opening of the great suspension bridge between New York and Brooklyn
on the evening of May 24th, 1883. View from New York, looking towards Brooklyn.
BrooklynBridgeFireworks1883.jpg; Creator: Currier & Ives -- Lithographer; Published Date: 1883; Depicted Date: 1883
Library Division: Humanities and Social Sciences Library / Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs
Description: 1 print ; 30.5 x 44.7 cm.; Medium: Chromolithographs; Specific Material Type: Prints; Item Physical Description: 1 print ; 30.5 x 44.7 cm.
Additional Name(s): Currier & Ives -- Publisher; Notes: Print contains 14 lines of descriptive text in lower margin.; Provenance: John H. Levine Collection
Standard Reference(s): Deak 869; Digital Image ID: 53891; Digital Record ID: 118186
Collection Guide: Picturing America, 1497-1899: Prints, Maps, and Drawings bearing on the New World Discoveries and on the Development of the Territory that is now the United States
This is a new negative showing the entire trip from Brooklyn to New York, in which the immense towers stand out clear and distinct against the sky. The best picture of the Brooklyn Bridge yet secured. 150 feet.
CREATED/PUBLISHED United States : Edison Manufacturing Co., 1899.; Copyright: Thomas A. Edison; 20May1903; H32037.
Duration: 2:28 at 15 fps.; Camera, Edwin S. Porter.; Photographed May 9, 1903.
In 1870, construction began on the caissons to build the massive 300-foot tall towers to support
the suspension cables. The towers were the tallest structures in New York City for over thirty years.
