NYC Bridges

Date created/published: between 1903 and 1910

The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway, near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

The picture is part of  the Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection.

Brooklyn Bridge at Night. Photography by Sarah Brucker

The Brooklyn Bridge is almost certainly the largest and oldest infrastructure project in bridge construction that is still in use. Finished in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River.

Designed by John Roebling and his son, Washington Roebling, the bridge spans 3,461 feet and rises 133 feet from the East River below. The steel cable-work, strung across two breathtaking stone towers, is fixed at both ends in stone anchorages. It was the greatest suspension bridge in the entire world from its opening until 1903, and the very first steel-wire suspension bridge.

Since its opening, it has become an iconic element of the New York City skyline. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972.