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: 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. Upon the announcement of a plan to repaint the Brooklyn Bridge in 2010, controversy erupted over the landmark’s original color. Some historians insisted that the young suspension bridge wore a proud buff color, renamed “Brooklyn Bridge Tan” for the modern makeover. ( The option of “Queensborough Tan” drew groans .) On the other side of the battle, old documents and hand-colored lithographs supported the argument that the icon’s original color was “Rawlins Red,” a hue derived from the iron-oxide from the eponymous mountain town of southern Wyoming. In the end, Brooklyn Bridge Tan won out.