The Brooklyn Bridge: Architectural Wonder, New York City Icon

The Brooklyn Bridge soaring over the East River is one of the greatest of New York City’s bridges. An architectural beauty designed by John A. Roebling, at the time of its completion in 1883 it was the world’s longest suspension bridge, connecting Manhattan at City Hall Park to Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza.

It is an icon of the borough as well as the picturesque subject of paintings, photos, and movie sets, not to mention a few time-worn jokes.

With spectacular views of Manhattan’s skyline, the river, and the Statue of Liberty, the bridge is the place for one of the most romantic and inspiring strolls in all New York.

The opening of the Brooklyn Bridge was the first of several major changes that transformed Brooklyn from a rural farming area with scattered neighborhoods into a popular Manhattan suburb. Land speculators and developers brought new residents to established, if scattered, neighborhoods, such as Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, and Bedford, and also carved out new residential areas in Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill.