Telling Brooklyn Stories

Jefferson Carpio

Professor Rosen

English 1101

November 22, 2011

The
construction behind the Brooklyn Bridge (Revised)

I believe that the Brooklyn Historical Society tour would
be better if the Brooklyn Bridge was a part of the tour. The Brooklyn Bridge
has so much history and it would have been great to visit it in the tour.
Columbus Park and The Promenade were one of the places visited in the walking
tour because of the history it has and how it is a big part of Brooklyn. But
the Brooklyn Bridge is also as much as important I believe than any other place
visited in the tour.  If the Brooklyn
Bridge was added to the walking tour yeah it could extend the time of the walk,
but it is really important to visit this place and to get to know about it. Everyone
learned a lot in the tour and received lots of information about Brooklyn
Heights during the tour but it would have been better if we did the same thing
with the Brooklyn Bridge. After doing lots of research and only getting the
really important stuff needed in my Research/ Persuasive paper I can talk to
you about why I strongly believe the Brooklyn Bridge should be part in the tour
and the history. The way I would do this is by talking about the construction
the reasoning behind why it was made and how long it has been part of Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Bridge is what used
to be called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge.” It was officially given the
name “Brooklyn Bridge” by the city in 1915.” (Feininger Fact No.2). The bridge had changed its name to only Brooklyn Bridge.
“The Brooklyn Bridge officially opened to the public on May 24, 1883.” (Walker
Fact No.1). It was built 128 years ago making it really important in Brooklyn’s
history because of the time it has been standing. “The single greatest
wonderment of the Brooklyn Bridge is not its size, beauty, function or even
technology, but the fact that it was created by hand. When construction began,
neither the light bulb nor the telephone (nor the jackhammer) had been
invented. It is truly the Great Pyramid of bridges.” (Maher p.1). This showed
how the bridge was constructed by hand and how none of the objects named were
made yet. This bridge was made before light bulbs telephones or jackhammers
existed. I did not know about this before I did the research and I found it
cool how they were able to build the bridge without using these things. This is
something really interesting that could have been really good to learn of in
the tour. “John A. Roebling, the German civil engineer best known for the
design of the Brooklyn Bridge and the invention of wire-rope suspension, was
born in the city of Muhlhausen on June 12, 1806.” (Civil
Engineering Articles p.1).  John A. Roebling
was the person in charge of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. “The
creator, famous bridge designer John A. Roebling, was perhaps one of the few
people who could have even dreamed of the practical possibility at the time,
and it was his invention of the wire rope that even made it possible.” (Maher
p.3). John A. Roebling was able to bring up this invention of his called the
wire rope which was great in building the bridge. “The fourteen year
construction took the lives of many men, killed the architect, and crippled his
son. It was construction on a scale that had never been done before, and
without some of the modern conveniences that we now take for granted.” (Maher
p.2).  Building the bridge cost lots of
people’s life’s because of how they did not have the utensils that are used now
to build bridges and do construction.

The reason behind the bridge being
built was because of the talk people had about connecting two cities. “Talk of
somehow bridging the East River began as early as 1800, when large bridges were
essentially dreams. The advantages of having a convenient link between the two
growing cities of New York and Brooklyn were obvious. But the idea was thought
to be impossible because of the width of the waterway, which, despite its name,
wasn’t really a river. The East River is actually a salt water estuary, prone
to turbulence and tidal conditions.” (McNamara
p.7). It was very difficult to make the bridge between lower Manhattan and Brooklyn
because no one had been able to come up with an idea to build the bridge like
the one of John A. Roebling. “Further complicating matters was the fact that
the East River was one of the busiest waterways on earth, with hundreds of
crafts of all sizes sailing on it at any time. Any bridge spanning the water
would have to allow for ships to pass beneath it, meaning a suspension bridge
was the only practical solution.” (McNamara p.8). Not only was the bridge built
to connect both cities but it had to be able to let ships pass beneath it
because of how the East river was the busiest river used for transportation. The
reason people wanting this bridge to be built was also to be able to get to the
other city faster and to have another way to get there which would help a lot
of people getting to their jobs on time because of traffic on the way.

Now I will talk about how long the
Brooklyn Bridge has been part of Brooklyn. “The Brooklyn Bridge Called the
“eighth wonder of the world” when it opened in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge
was the largest suspension bridge of its day. A tribute to American invention
and industry is also celebrated individual creativity and vision. German
immigrant John Roebling designed the 3,460-foot-long bridge, which he claimed
reflected “the perfect equilibrium of nature.” (Beal p.1). The Bridge
being part of Brooklyn for 128 years (1883-2011) shows that there is lots of
history behind it with the amounts of immigrants and new comers that have gone
by visiting the bridge because of how long it has been standing and the view
that you can have from the bridge. “The bridge itself is just above 6,000 feet
long and 270 feet tall and was designed by John Roebling to be six times
stronger than it needed to be. Because of this, the bridge is still standing
today, although it is only about four times stronger than it needed to be, due
to the inferior wire.” (Maher p.5) This explains why this particular bridge has
been standing for so long and how people put lots of hard work into making this
bridge as strong as it is.

In summary, the Brooklyn Bridge
should be added to the Brooklyn Historical Society tour because of the
importance it carries. Also because of how many people, like tourists love to
visit the bridge and walk through a bridge that has lasted for more than 128 years.
Another reason why is the fact of how people that built this bridge work hard
into building it and making it as strong as it is. The Brooklyn Bridge was one
of the first places that caught my attention when I just got to City tech for
the first time. I happened to walk the whole bridge and got to experience the
beautiful view from the bridge. So for anyone that has not yet gotten the
chance to visit the Brooklyn Bridge I advise you to do so I assure you that
you’ll like it.

Works
Cited

Burns, Ken. “The
Brooklyn Bridge.” Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2011.

McNamara, Robert. “Building the Brooklyn Bridge.” Academic Search Complete. Web. 9
Nov. 2011.

“civilengineeringcrossing.com/article/1320006/John-A-Roebling-The-Visionary-Behind-the-Brooklyn-Bridge/”
Web. 20 Nov 2011.

Haw, Richard.  “The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History.”
Books. 2005. 3-145 Print. 10 November 2011.

Maher, James. “Brooklyn Bridge,
New York History Articles.” Web. 20 November 2011.

Feininger,
Andreas.“life.com/gallery/24441/image/50701964/20-facts-about-the-brooklyn-bridge#index/1”
Web. 22 November 2011. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Mar01, 1946

Post 1

Honestly till yesterday I never walked past the college campus. It was always from the train station to school from school to the train station, so when I heard about this walking tour around downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn height didn’t call my attention much. Starting out the tour I was amazed I hadn’t even seen the back side of the college and to see that there was so much passed Jay Street was fascinating. I never thought that Brooklyn had so much history none the less the history t does have. Something that was interesting to have learned was about the fire that killed 300 people. How something like that has an effect on us, because of that fire in the theater we now have a certain limit of people that can occupy a space at one time. Something else that really called my attention was to learn that Brooklyn was its own city at a point in time, one of the largest cities in the country. Entering Brooklyn heights was like entering a different world. It was fascinating to see how things can change so much in a difference of a couple of steps. It was so different, so beautiful that I fell in love with the architecture of the houses it was breath taking. It was really interesting to see that they were in exactly the same condition that they were in the 1800’s, due to the fact that the area is landmark. Landmarked meaning that the area of Brooklyn Heights can not be changed in anyway on the outside. My favorite part of the walking tour was our stop at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The park was so beautiful and the view was simply amazing. Something that we learned that was also interesting was now that the exact beautiful park we were standing in was once the backyard of the homeowners who live near the Promenade Now that I took the tour I would really recommend it to other because I learned a lot of information that I’m sure isn’t in textbooks.

Post 2

On this visit to the Brooklyn Historic Society we got the opportunity to look at all different types of maps. Some of the maps that we took a look at were fairly recent but there were also some the date back to the 1800’s and maybe even further back. When we first got there to the library we were first thought how to read and understand what a map is showing us. We also learned that map have many different uses. We also got the to see the progression of maps thought out the years, how they became more modern with time. I found it so interesting how maps were used and even how they were made back in the 1800’s. After we saw the different type of maps, we were separated into groups to look at some other maps. The maps that were in the groups all range from different time eras. My group got to look at some maps that all had different purposes some showed streets of Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn and others were subway maps. One of the maps that my group was a personal map of the Pierrepont family that was very simple no colors expect for the color green that represented trees and parks. Then we looked at a transit map that was one of the newer maps. Observing the maps we realized that the map had some lines that no longer exist but we also recognized some lines such as the 7 line in Queens and the F train the run from Queens into Brooklyn. The last map we looked at was a map of Downtown Brooklyn that showed all the commercial areas such as Fulton street. The map was the most modern, published in 2005 contain a map key that helps the person looking at the map located places on the map. I enjoyed this trip to the Brooklyn Historic Society I learned a lot about maps that I didn’t know before but can definitely use sometime in the future.

Reflection

Not everyone in their first semester of college gets the opportunity like we had. This semester was one to remember. From the walking tour to what we learned in class is something we will all take with us and not ever forget. We started out the semester with the walking tour of Brooklyn heights and Downtown Brooklyn. From the walking tour I learned a lot. Something that I won’t forget that I learned on the walking tour was about the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The story that Julie Golia shared with us that where we were standing once upon time was just simple backyards to the residents of Brooklyn Heights. Also that the Brooklyn Queens Expressway was supposed to cut straight thru Brooklyn Heights instead of around it like it does today. On our first official visit to the Brooklyn Historic Society we got the chance to learn about maps. All about how they were made, how much they cost, and how used it and how to read a map. We also show how throughout the years how maps have changed and became more modern. I really enjoy learning and interpreting maps in the library. It gave me the chance to really understand the change of Downtown Brooklyn and Even Brooklyn Heights. On the second visit to the Brooklyn Historic Society we looked at some different primary source documents. Some of the documents were diaries others were letter and we even got the chance to look at subway tickets for the long island railroad. I thinking looking at the tickets was the most interesting to me because I take the Long Island Railroad and to see how much it has changed in not only appearance but also in size. Over all the experience at the Brooklyn Historic Society Was an enjoyable. I not only had a good time I also learned along the way.