Brooklyn Bridge Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City. It connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, spanning the East River. The Brooklyn Bridge has a main span of and a height of above mean high water. It is one of the oldest roadway bridges in the United States and was the world's first steel-wire suspension bridge, as well as the first fixed crossing across the East River. The Brooklyn Bridge started construction in 1869 and was completed fourteen years later in 1883. It was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and the
East New York, Brooklyn Avenue. Pitkin named the area "East New York" to signify it as the eastern end of New York City. In 1836 the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad (soon to become part of the Long Island Rail Road) opened through the area; it did not originally stop in East New York, but a stop there was added by 1844. In 1860 the LIRR moved its terminus to Queens, and the line through Brooklyn was shortened to end at East New York. In 1852, New Lots was officially ceded from the Town of Flatbush. In the middle 19th century, the road between Brooklyn