Brooklyn's Icon Celebrates a Birthday: The Brooklyn Bridge Turns 138

There was actually a time before Brooklyn’s iconic bridge towered over the shoreline.

It’s been 138 years since the Brooklyn Bridge opened to the public on May 24, 1883, after 14 years of construction. While it provided a necessary link between Manhattan and Brooklyn it also quickly became a symbol of the borough. It’s still a must-see for tourists, a heavily used pedestrian pathway and, of course, one of the most photographed icons of the borough.

In celebration of the anniversary, we’ve gathered some of our history and photo pieces on the engineering marvel.

And If You Believe That, I Have a Bridge to Sell You: The Men Who Sold the Brooklyn Bridge

You may or may not have heard the well-known phrase, “If you believe that, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.” But are you familiar with the details of the conniving con men and the swindles that inspired it?

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Brooklyn Bridge Makes the Top 10 of 2017’s Most Instagrammed Locations

Did your photo of the Brooklyn Bridge help make it one of the top 10 most Instagrammed places in the world in 2017? Instagram released their year in review info, and the iconic bridge was No. 8 on the list of the 10 most popular locations. New York itself was the most Instagrammed city in the world.

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‘The Bridge Is Falling’: The Story of the Brooklyn Bridge’s Deadly Stampede

Within a week of the Brooklyn Bridge’s opening, a rumor it was going to collapse incited a deadly stampede. The bridge opened to much fanfare on May 24, 1883, and on May 30, during Memorial Day weekend, the promenade was bustling with thousands of holiday-weekend sightseers.

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Happy Birthday, Brooklyn Bridge! Celebrating 133 Years of a New York Landmark [Photos]

“Babylon had her hanging gardens, Egypt her pyramid, Athens her Acropolis, Rome her Athenaeum; so Brooklyn has her bridge,” read a sign in a Brooklyn shop window on the day of the Brooklyn Bridge’s opening to the public on May 24, 1883, 133 years ago today, according to Alan Trachtenberg’s Brooklyn Bridge: Fact and Symbol.

Related Stories

• As the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Turns 53, See It Under Construction in Vintage Photos
• Take a Stroll on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Circa 1971 (Photos)
• Brooklynites Commute Over Frozen East River, Boys Make a Profit (1888)

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