Title: 15 Fascinating Facts About the Brooklyn Bridge | Mental Floss
Headings: 15 Fascinating Facts About the Brooklyn Bridge
15 Fascinating Facts About the Brooklyn Bridge
1. THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE NEEDED A LITTLE BRIBERY TO GET STARTED.
2. THE BRIDGE HAS GONE BY SEVERAL NAMES.
3. ROEBLING PAID A HIGH PRICE FOR THE BRIDGE.
4. ROEBLING’S SON TOOK HIS PLACE AND HAD EQUALLY BAD LUCK.
5. THE PROJECT BECAME AN EARLY FEMINIST VICTORY.
6. A ROOSTER MADE THE FIRST TRIP ACROSS THE BRIDGE.
7. THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE WAS THE WORLD’S FIRST STEEL-WIRE SUSPENSION BRIDGE.
8. A SNEAKY CONTRACTOR INTRODUCED LOW-QUALITY WIRE INTO THE MIX.
9. THE BRIDGE WAS THE SITE OF A STAMPEDE SOON AFTER OPENING.
10. TWENTY-ONE ELEPHANTS WALKED ACROSS THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE IN 1884.
11. COMPARTMENTS IN THE BRIDGE WERE USED FOR STORING WINE.
12. ANOTHER COMPARTMENT WAS TURNED INTO A FALLOUT SHELTER.
13. NOBODY CAN FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT COLOR THE BRIDGE WAS.
14. THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE STANDS WHERE GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT.
15. THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE WAS THE LONGEST IN THE WORLD FOR 20 YEARS.
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Content: COMPARTMENTS IN THE BRIDGE WERE USED FOR STORING WINE. If you think a nice glass of wine would be the perfect companion for a moonlit stroll across a river, this is the bridge for you. Engineers built sizeable vaults that were up to 50 feet tall into the bridge beneath its anchorages. Thanks to their cool temperatures, these granite-walled storage spaces made the perfect wine cellars, and they were rented out to the public until World War I. The company A. Smith & Co. Productions forked over $500 a month as rent for the Brooklyn-side vaults, while the liquor distributor Luyties Brothers paid a pretty $5000 for the prime real estate beneath the Manhattan anchorage. 12. ANOTHER COMPARTMENT WAS TURNED INTO A FALLOUT SHELTER. At some point during the Cold War, one of the bridge’s compartments transformed into a survival shelter stocked with food and water rations and medical supplies. After fading into obscurity after the close of the Cold War, this fallout shelter was rediscovered in 2006 during a routine structural inspection of the bridge. 13. NOBODY CAN FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT COLOR THE BRIDGE WAS.