Historic Photos of the Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge resounds throughout popular culture as an iconic image. Yet its creation was fraught with turmoil. Working with the relatively untested theory of suspension, John Roebling designed a suspension bridge modeled after his Cincinnati-Covington Bridge, but he died before construction even began. His son Washington then accepted the challenge—only to end up paralyzed while working on the bridge. However, with his strong-willed perseverance and help from his wife, he drove the proje