THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

In 1855, John Roebling, the owner of a wire-rope company and a famous bridge designer proposed a suspension bridge over the East River after becoming impatient with the Atlantic Avenue-Fulton Street Ferry. Roebling worked out every detail of the bridge, from its massive granite towers to its four steel cables. He thought his design entitled the bridge "to be ranked as a national monument… a great work of art."