The Brooklyn Bridge is among the most recognizable works of architecture in New York City, if not the world. This remarkable feat of engineering currently carries roughly 150,000 vehicles and pedestrians across the East River every day. But what most people don't know is that when it was completed, in 1883, many New Yorkers were frightened to even set foot on the structure.
When it was finished, the Brooklyn Bridge set a record as the longest suspension bridge in the world, measuring nearly 1,600 feet—roughly 800 feet longer than any previously built. As a result, many native New Yorkers were not convinced the bridge could sustain the weight of the commuters expected to use it. This fear reached feverish heights when a woman tripped and fell on the bridge, sparking a terrifying scene: According to an article published in The New York Times in 1883, after the woman fell, another woman screamed, causing the crowd in close proximity to panic and push their way off the bridge. A stampede ensued, and within a matter of minutes, 12 people were dead, with seven others seriously injured.
It was after that tragic day that city officials, in a desperate attempt to ease some of the public’s concern over the structure's safety, reached out to P. T. Barnum, asking the famous circus showman to help demonstrate the bridge’s strength. And so, on May 17, 1884, crowds eagerly looked on as Barnum paraded 21 elephants across the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, thus proving that it would not bend or buckle. The rest, as they say, is history.
