Brooklyn Bridge a celebratory banquet at his house on the day of the bridge opening. Further festivity included the performance of a band, gunfire from ships, and a fireworks display. Since the New York and Brooklyn Bridge was the only one across the East River at that time, it was also called East River Bridge. On that first day, a total of 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed what was then the only land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge. The bridge's main span over the East River is 1,595 feet 6 inches
East New York, Brooklyn Williamsburg, Broadway. East New York (as the Town of New Lots) was annexed as the 26th Ward of the rapidly growing City of Brooklyn in 1886; in 1898 after a decade-long controversy with debates, campaigns and publicity, the community was merged into New York City as a whole with the consolidation of Brooklyn and the other four boroughs into a single entity as the "City of Greater New York". In the 20th Century its name came to be applied to much of the former township. In 1939, the Works Progress Administration "Guide to New York City" wrote: After World War