Thousands of bicyclists, walkers, and cars traverse the famous Brooklyn Bridge each day, making it difficult to fathom a city when people did not have faith in the engineers responsible for creating this architectural wonder. However, when the bridge was initially made accessible to the public on May 30, 1883, the citizens of the city viewed it with a degree of skepticism that eventually escalated into panic. And the circus was the one odd source of comfort that could allay their anxieties.
The Brooklyn Bridge was the world’s largest suspension bridge when it was built, spanning almost 1,600 feet, or about 800 feet longer than any other bridge ever built. It was also the first to cross the East River in New York. Many nervous city dwellers voiced worries at such distances that the bridge would not be structurally sturdy enough to sustain the enormous volume of traffic anticipated on it. P.T. Barnum, the creator of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, was so aware of the public’s reluctance that he became the most well-known ringmaster in the world. In order to demonstrate the bridge’s security, Barnum offered the city $5,000 in exchange for permission to cross it with his numerous, enormous circus animals.
His offer was rejected by the city, which turned out to be a fatal error. A week after the bridge’s opening, a stampede and ensuing crowd rush would become fatal. When a woman stumbled on the bridge’s steps, another person screamed, and from there, the rest of the people on the bridge believed the structure was collapsing, according to reports at the time. As the throng rushed quickly, 12 people were killed, seven were critically injured, and 28 others were only slightly hurt.
Thus, a year following the Brooklyn Bridge’s debut, representatives of New York City acquired P.T. Barnum accepted his invitation to organize a demonstration showcasing the intrinsic strength of the bridge. The greatest showman in history gathered together 21 elephants and 17 camels from his circus on May 17, 1884, and led them over the Brooklyn–Manhattan bridge. Toung Taloung, Barnum’s characteristic white elephant, and Jumbo, his most well-known and adored elephant, who pulled the caboose, were among the procession participants.
That day, crossing fees were waived for everyone as “the question of how much an elephant or a dromedary should pay stumped the Superintendent [of Tolls].” The elephants shuffled along in the precession, “raising their trumps and snorting as every train went by,” and from the perspective of the onlookers, “it seemed as if Noah’s Ark were emptying itself over on Long Island,” according to The New York Times’s reporting at the time. The combined weight of the animals was ten thousand pounds. Alongside them, P.T. The goal of proving the bridge could safely handle the weight of New Yorkers commuting was achieved by Barnum and the City of New York. One of the most recognizable sites in the city and the entire globe, the Brooklyn Bridge still stands today.
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