CAMILLE BOHANNON
The Golden Gate Bridge, which spans the San Francisco
Bay and connects the city to its northern suburbs, is one
of the world’s most famous structures. Its construction
78 years ago over a deep, treacherous channel was a
marvel of modern engineering.
In this photo, pedestrians walk across the bridge on May
27, 1937 — one day before it opened to vehicular traffic.
On January 5, 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate
Bridge, as workers began excavating 3.25 million cubic feet
of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages.
On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was opened, Celebrations lasted for a week! Vehicles were not permitted to cross on the first
day, so 200,000 people made their way across the bridge on foot
or roller skaters. The day after it opened, President Roosevelt, who
was in Washington D.C., had pushed a button that allowed vehicles across the bridge.
With flags flying above him, President Arthur leads the
first walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
After 14 years, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River opened
in 1883, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn
for the first time in history.
Thousands of residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan Island turned
out to witness the dedication ceremony, which was presided
over by President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor
Grover Cleveland.
Designed by the late John A. Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge
was the largest suspension bridge ever built to that date.
Chester Alan Arthur (1829 – 1886)
Fireworks and flags marked the opening of the Brooklyn
Bridge.
On January 5, 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate
Bridge, as workers began excavating 3.25 million cubic feet
of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages.
Following the Gold Rush boom that began in 1849, speculators
realized the land north of San Francisco Bay would increase in
value in direct proportion to its accessibility to the city. Soon,
a plan was hatched to build a bridge that would span the Golden
Gate, a narrow, 400-foot deep strait that serves as the mouth of
the San Francisco Bay, connecting the San Francisco Peninsula
with the southern end of Marin County.
TIM MAGUIRE
Billy Graham (William Franklin Graham Jr.)
(November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018)
Rev. Graham was an American evangelist, a prominent evangelical Christian figure, and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who
became well known internationally in the late 1940s. One of his biographers has placed him "among the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century.
