As the population grew in New York City during the 1830s there was always loose talk of relieving the overcrowded conditions there by building a bridge across the East River to Brooklyn. Building the bridge, the proponents argued, would reduce the congestion in New York City by providing an easy and quicker way for people and goods to move across the river to Brooklyn. At the same time, they added, this influx of people and material would create a greater impetus for further development of Brooklyn. But talk was cheap and nothing was ever done.

Big Design Dreams

In 1855, however, John A. Roebling, a German born civil engineer who had built the Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati among many others, had grown tired of the endless talk and decided to go one step further. He drew up the design of an enormous suspension bridge which he proposed building across the East River. The proposal for this bridge or for that matter any bridge across the East Rive was met with obvious indifference by the New York authorities but Roebling remained undeterred. Over the next several years Roebling continued to pursue his idea by exploiting his influential government connections. Finally, in 1867, a bill was pushed through the New York legislature that permitted a private company to construct a bridge to Brooklyn.

Tragedy Strikes

Two years later Roebling’s design was approved by the Army Corps of Engineers and the bill for its construction was signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. While surveying a site on the Brooklyn side, however, his foot was crushed against a pier by an arriving ferry and twenty-four days afterward he died from complications resulting from this injury. Taking up the gauntlet was his son, Washington who now assumed the role of Chief Engineer of the bridge-building project at an annual salary of $8,000.

Construction Begins

Work on constructing the caissons began on January 3, 1870 and took three years to complete. The immigrant laborers working for $2.25 a day in the 3,000 ton caissons were subjected to conditions unimaginable in today’s work environment. Practically living in the dank and dimly lit subterranean foundations each day and breathing compressed air for hours eventually took its toll on the workforce. An estimated 20 to 30 men died from fires, explosions, or the bends. Even Washington Roebling himself was stricken with the bends from one of his ventures into the caisson in 1872. So severe was his illness that he was unable to return to the worksite but relied on his wife to act as his agent in overseeing the project. In fact, fearing that even more workers in the caisson on the New York side of the river would be subjected to the bends, Roebling ordered a halt to the construction 30 feet short of the bedrock. Since then, the Manhattan-side tower still sits on sand alone.