The Granddaddy of all bridges...
The sun was bright and the sky cloudless with a cool breeze coming off the East River on that Thursday morning in late May, 1883 when a hundred thousand or so witnessed the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. The New York Times headline would read, Two Great Cities United...The Bridge Formally Opened. Both Brooklyn and Manhattan were considered cities and each had its own mayor. Brooklyn Mayor Seth Low and Manhattan's first-year Mayor Franklin Edson would lock arms when the procession across the bridge reached the Brooklyn side...
Also in attendance were President Chester Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland, a host of other politicians and dignitaries and the throng that came from as far away as Philadelphia to witness history being made. Over 50,000 came by railroad alone. There were marching bands, 21-gun salutes and what would a bridge opening be without fireworks ?...
Spectators paid $2 for a ticket to cross the bridge and even back in 1883 we had scam artists who used white business cards looking like real tickets to get across until security got wise and put a stop to it. Some of those same scam artists would be among the early "sellers" of the bridge to people stupid enough to think you could buy the Brooklyn Bridge. But let's face it, if you believe that you can buy the Brooklyn Bridge then you probably believe 'there's no such thing as Dr. Seuss or Disneyland and mother goose, no nursery rhymes'...
More May 24 Memories...
1830] The 1st passenger railroad in the U.S. begins service between Baltimore and Elliott's Mills, MD...
1844] Samuel Morse transmits the message: "What hath God wrought" from Washington to Baltimore as he opens America's 1st telegraph line to which the reply comes, "Huh?"...
1878] C.A. Parker, a Harvard student wins the 1st American bike race in Beacon Park, Boston...
1883] The Brooklyn Bridge opens (feature story)...
1899] W.T. McCullough opens the 1st public garage...
1935] Cincinnati and Philadelphia play the 1st major league night game (the Reds win 2-1) as FDR pushes a button in Washington to turn the lights on...
1958] UPI is formed by a merger of United Press and the International News Service...
1964] The Beatles are #1 with "Love Me Do"...
1969] The Guess Who lip-synch "These Eyes" and "Laughing" on American Bandstand...
1969] "Get Back" by the Beatles is #1 for the 1st of 5 weeks...
1974] Richard Pryor is the host of "Midnight Special" with musical guests Olivia Newton-John and Boz Scaggs...
1974] The last "Dean Martin Show" is seen on NBC-TV after a run of 9 years...
1974] Jazz great Duke Ellington dies at 75...
1975] Earth, Wind & Fire are #1 with "Shining Star"...
1980] The Islanders win their 1st Stanley Cup over the Flyers in 6 games (this will be the 1st of 4 consecutive titles for the Isles)...
1983] The Brooklyn Bridges' 100th birthday is celebrated...
1984] "Let's Hear It for the Boy" is #1 for Deniece Williams (featured in "Footloose")...
1985] The James Bond movie "View To a Kill" premieres...
1987] Al Unser, Sr. wins his 4th Indy 500 at the age of 47 (see 1992 timeline)...
1988] JohnMoschittasetsarecordforfasttalkingwith586wordsperminute...
1989] "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" premieres...
1992] Al Unser, Jr. becomes the 1st, second-generation winner of the Indy 500...
1993] The final episode of "Designing Women" starring Delta Burke and Dixie Carter is aired (the show ran for 7 years)...
1994] 4 men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison (enjoy your stay)...
1995] Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss is sentenced to 3 years for running a call girl ring that catered to the rich and Charlie Sheen...
1999] The final episode of "Mad About You" (Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt) airs after 7 years...
2000] 5 are killed, 2 wounded when 2 gunmen enter a Wendy's in Flushing. The gunmen tie up the victims in the basement and shoot them (this was one of the most horrible local stories of 2000 in New York)...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
"Happy Birthday, happy birthday"...
1938] Tommy Chong (who will, sniff sniff, smoke and inhale, sniff sniff, to celebrate the occasion)...
1941] Pop icon and now disc jockey Bob Dylan...
1943] Gary (Radar on "M*A*S*H*) Burghoff...
1944] Patti LaBelle a.k.a. Patricia Holt...
1945] Priscilla Presley...
1955] Rosanne Cash...
[Today is the 144th day of 2006 with 221 days left in the year and just 5 days until Memorial Day]
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