Opening of the New East River Williamsburg Bridge 1903

December 19, 1903. Edison Manufacturing Co.

In this film we see the walk from the bridge to a grandstand where the mayor and others will deliver speeches and dedications to the new bridge. The Williamsburg Bridge opened on December 19, 1903 to horse-drawn carriages, bicycles and pedestrians. However, due to complications between Greater New York and the privately owned railway companies, elevated trains did not run on the bridge until 1908. The final cost of the bridge and its approaches was $24.2 million, more than three times the original cost estimate.

"Considered from the aesthetic standpoint, the Williamsburgh Bridge is destined always to suffer by comparison with its neighbor, the Brooklyn Bridge. Whatever criticism has been made against the conservative features of the latter structure, it has always been conceded to be an extremely graceful and well-balanced design. It is possible that, were it not in existence, we would not hear so many strictures upon the manifest want of beauty in the later and larger Williamsburgh Bridge, which is destined to be popular more on account of its size and usefulness than its graceful lines. As a matter of fact, the Williamsburgh Bridge is an engineer's bridge pure and simple. The eye may range from anchorage to anchorage, and from pier to finial of the tower without finding a single detail that suggests controlling motive, either in its design or fashioning other than bald utility."
- Scientific American (1903)

The main span measures 1,600 feet with a total span of 7,308. Construction took place from 1896 to 1903.
The 310-foot-tall towers, the first all-steel towers to be employed for a suspension bridge, support four main cables, which are carried on saddles atop the towers. Each of the 4,344-ton main cables, which measure 18 inches in diameter, is comprised of 37 strands of 208 wires. Nearly 17,500 miles of wire are used in the cables that suspend the bridge 135 feet above the East River.

This is one of two 'actualities' which cover this event. The other is "Opening the Williamsburg Bridge" which records the march across the bridge leading up to this film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1ziV9hgSJg

01/03/12 - 586

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Film & Animation

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