The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 24

THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE. NEW YORK. SATURDAY. DECEMBER 19. 1903 III TOWER BUILDING SHOWN IN ITS SEVERAL PHASES OF PROGRESS.

JJJ.UIH 111 if. a ill II TZr'i-f iSiMlll if 6V if JOHN HOER.LE, Shoes For Tender Feet. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. 201 Broadway, BROOKLYN. No Connection Any Other Store.

al THE WILLIAMSBURGH SAVINGS BANK. Incorporated 1851. OFFICERS: JEREMIAH V. MESEROLE, President. WILLIAM E.

HORWILL, EZRA B. TUTTLE. Vice Presidents. SAMUEL M. MEEKER.

Secretary. WILLIAM F. BURNS, Cashier, CHARLES J. PASFIELO. Asst.

Cashier. TRUSTEES: WILLIAM E. HORWILL, CHARLES W. COOPER. EZRA B.

TUTTLE, WILLIAM LAMB, JEREMIAH MESEROLE, AHRAM-COOKE. PETER WYCKOFF. BRAINARD G. LATIMER, ANDREW CORNELIUS H. TIEBOUT, SAMUEb M.

MEEKER, JAMES R. HOWE. JOHN V. JEWELL, JAMES H. POST, HENRY U.

PALMER, JAMES F. BENDERNAQEU M. D. E. MEEKER.

lite, WWyl'' I pp: -i- I TJm sfwts mom. xm sswcm. heck- J' II Counsel, OPEN EVERY BUSINESS DAY, EXCEPT SATURDAYS, FROM 10 A. M. UNTIL i P.

M. ON SATURDAYS FROM 10 A. M. UNTIE NOON. ALSO MONDAY AF TERNOONS FROM 4 O'CLOCK.

I I iHl 1 -i I HISTORY OF THE BRIDGE. 1891 Inception Due to a Committee of Citizens First Official Action in Construction Began in 1896 Rapid Progress of Work. theNew York and Brooklyn bridge, which had so often been referred to by residents of the twin cities as one of the seven wonders of the world. That bridge in the minds of most of the members of the commission served as a model for thrt" construction of the new. It was practlealy proposed to erect a Becond Brooklyn bridge, only with a doubled capacity upon a widened deck nnd this early idea, which has since suffered only unimportant modifications, was followed by the engineers.

Private enterprise but three years before THE history of the Williamsburg Bridge Is practically encompassed by a decade of. years. while residents of the Eastern District have been dreaming of and hoping for a bridge for so many years, pact that, the Oldest Inhabitant shakes his head In vain despair when ho contemplates their number and the files of the Eagle throughout Its entire long career are peppered with letters urging the mighty improvement, no actual work was done toward securing the second of the great East. River spans until the tiprine of 1SII5. The Brooklyn bridge had become an old story and had been given eleven years of the course of the Williamsburg Brtdgo a straight line.

from end to. end. Another step in the progress of the work was taken when on October 7, 1896. sealed proposals were received by the commission for the erection of the towers upon the Manhattan side of the river. The award was finally made to P.

H. Flynn of Brooklyn, whose bid of $327,000 was the lowest received. He was given the masonry contract on October 28 of tho same year. The first actual work of construction on the Williamsburg Bridge was ton days later, for on 7 Contractor Flynn commenced the construction of the Manhattan tower at the foot of Delancey street. There were no formal ceremonies Inaugurating the work and the first realization that many ft citizen had that the great work was really under way was the quartet of derricks and fleet of tugs and barges that surrounded tho sinking caisson ot tho north pier.

Work progressed steadily the. summer of 1SII7 and when at the close of that year the old and honorable city of. Brooklyn ceased to be for all time nnd the Greater New York became a reality the north pier of the Manhattan tower was two-thirds finished and tho caisson of the south had been sunk. Operations were well under way on the Brooklyn shore. In June of that summer the contract for building the foundations of the Brooklyn tower had been awarded to Colin McLean of Manhattan, the lowest bidder, for $507,187 and work had been commenced in the following month.

The first of the two caissons had been placed on September 30 and its twin in the following Decern tier. Tho change that worked sweeping obliterations of old city lines worked like radical rhanges In the personnel of the East River Bridge Commission. The original board was succeeded by six new commissioners who had planned to build at some future day an East ltlver bridge, from near the foot of Broadway, Williamsburg, to the foot of LIABILITIES: Market value. Par value. Due Depositors, Including Interest to July 1, 1903 $43,826,490.08 $43,826,490.08 Surplus on par value of securities.

4,445,283.57 Surplus on market value of securities 7,968,747.97 Grand street, Manhattan, and the commission, neting under the advice of Its counsel, thought It wise to purchase the tangible righte, still existing of this private enterprise, which had been Incorporated In May, 1SII2, as the East ltlver Bridge Company. It entered into negotiations Willi Frederick I'hlman, the president of that company, for the purchase of the corporation's rights. Mr. T1F CABLES IT 5 XEADY TO UNTIL Sensible Holiday Gifts. the hardest kind of service before public sentiment for a bridge from the, old city of Williamsburg to the extreme easterly portion of Manhattan Island had reached a point, where St demanded that the spanbeaetuallyplnnned Previous efforts to bui Id he bridge liad been desultory, yet the spirit of growth tltat achieved them was steady and growing, and so when the executive committee of the l'eeples Hank organized the 1'eoples Bridge Association on April 2.

iy.K, that radical step was not other than the logical outcome of the growing sentiment. Williamsburg folk and the folk back of them in the great Hushwlck and Eastern District sections of this horough had watched the part of Ilrooklyn served by tbo original bridge grow beyond the dreams of the most optimistic of Its founders and they realized that similar development could come to their localities only through the medium of a similar brilge. Charles 0. Bennett, nt that time a Congressman from Kings County and at all times a most enthusiastic, worker fur the best Interests of Ilrooklyn and Williamsburg, fos COMFORT FOR THE MONEY SPENT. Every square foot of floor space crowded to make room.lor the extraordinary Christmas Offerings.

THE LARGEST AND MOST RELIABLE were appointed by Mayor Robert A. Van Wyek on January 111, 18HS. These were Lewis Nixon, James W. Boyle, Smith E. Lane, Ju- 1 linn D.

Falrehild, John W. Weber and I Thomas S. Moore. Mr. Nixon became presl- I dent of the commission, Mr.

Boyle Its vice president and Mr. Lane Its secretary. Lef- jm Furniture Carpet HOUSE IN BROOKLYN. CASH-CREDIT IF DESIRED. No Connection With Any Other Store on Broadway.

fert Buck was continued as chief engineer and i. F. Nichols became his assistant. The new commission found the work of building the bridge well advanced. Shanly and Ryan hod been awarded the contract for building the Manhattan anchorage nt while the IJegnon-McLean Construction Company nnd been awarded the contract for the Brooklyn anchorage at $723,578, while as has Just been stated, actual construction was well under way upon the pier foundations.

E. O. Freeman was the resident engineer In Manhattan and E. Duryea, held a similar post In Brooklyn. HANDSOME Gilt Corner Chair, Seat uphol-ster'ed in Damask, assorted Colors.

Special for Holi. day Sale, 3.25 THIS HANDSOME MIRROR in beautiful design, 40x18, French bevel plate, Mahogany finish. During the Holiday Sale only 5.98 Thomas Moore, who had been a member of the commission appointed from Manhattan, died on April 1. I'M, and James I). Bell of Brooklyn was selected as his successor nine days Inter.

Soon after he was elected secretary of the commission to succeed Smith E. Lane. During this time the work on the Williamsburg Bridge was continuing with the same steady nrogress thnt had made It a model for study by tho engineers of the entire country. The New Jersey Steel nnd ll Im BROOKLYN N. Y.

fil I tered the demands for a Williamsburg brHge. He had two able and energetic lieu-tenants in Senator I'atrick H. McCarren and the then Assimblymau Timothy I). Sullivan. These men foresaw the vast importance of the structure to their count ituencies and tin lent such aid to the Peoples Bridge As-BO'-iation that brought ready recognition of its demands by the legislature at Albany and the War Department ut Washington, vhoso consent is vastly necessary to an enterprise of this sort.

The matter was handled with celerity at Alb.ioy and in the mine April an act was in-troduo providing tor the appointment of nt) fcat Kir bridge commission by the mayor of the Pinner enioH ot Brooklyn an 1 New York, 'liiis a' wa.i proved by Governor Levi 1'. on .1 following, and became Chanter "ki of Hie Laws of lVG. Its iuuctni' iii (Jim kly follow, by iM recognition by the government n' bnlh cilies. Mayor Krbi. a of the thm City of Iitook- l.wi, appo.nlta Alelfew I I i.

id, James A. Sperry and Henry llaiternian a- the commissioners from tliia ide oi tie KaM H.wr, jnj.l Wwm i 'Telephone 196 Willlamsburgh 8jJ 1 OPEX EVENINGS UNTIL. CHRISTMAS. Eobert Anderson Van Wyck. Former HrHie- Commissioner, Fx-uihelo.

Iron Company was awarded the contract for the steel towers and the trussed end spans on Februnry 21, the price for the work being fixed nt $1,220,2:10. This award wns seconded nine or ten months later by tho giving of the contract for the steel wire and metal castlni's of the cables to John A. Hoebling's flfllidlV fift are Uflefu' ani appropriate can be purchased here. UUilUaj UltlJ amall deposit required and we will store thera untij wanted. I'hlman made flat or upset price of JOHN A.

SCHWARZ, i Sons Company of New York, on December It. I for $1,308,000. A part of this sum has not 1 yet been paid to the Roebllngs, as It Is as- serted by Bridge Commissioner Llndenthal 1 on the nnrt of the city thnt the cable eon- I 838-840 Broadway, Cor. Park Brooklyn, N. Y.

N. Y. for the company's righis, with a privilege price of conditioned upon the trains of the Brooklyn I'nion Elevated Hnllwuy the Brooklyn ltapld Transit, was not then brim being forever allowed to cross the new structure free of ull toll. The commission re. Telephone, 545 Williamsburg.

htroim of ork similarly d1" i fused both offers and finally succeeded in pound (-all in I. Wall I'laneis i. Tiiurhi-i tnaltrr to bind them together Into a mnnatev cord for the support of a stupendous weight. The "traveler" carried It" first single wire acroas the Kast River on Friday, November 29, and after many vexations delnys the wf.rn assembled and banded ready for i hanging the suspended eorda In the following I Jf.S 111 A lvK7 II Oil 1U. II August.

During inai urne sweeping had been wrought in the government of the Th PAvl.nfl ClventoV 1 pun basing the rights of the East ltlver Bridge Company for fin.fiOfi, and with no conditions uttached. This agreement was ontisuniate.1 seven years ago yesterday, and i by It two years of long lrtlliii lug rondemua-t tien proceedings were avoided. The giperal plans for the Williamsburg lit Wise, an prepared by Engineer Buck aud hU associates, were adopted on August 10, and ware Immediately Hied with the I ariinent of Public Works In the cities of titooklvn and of New York. Boring hod i I e-a made through the summer vith a dla-, ti. on.

I drill end based upon the plans the cost I of the proposed sirueturffl was estltnnteil at New York charter, which went Into effect Iractors forfeited approximately $200,000 by reason of their failure to complete their portion of the bridge within the contract's time limitation. Into 1900 tho bridge went forward. From April to September of that yenr the tail steel towers poked their way Into the air and late that fall the falseworks of timber were erected on each shore from the towers baei, to the anchorages. The giant travelers were placed In position on each of these falseworks and before snow-fell thnt fnll the work of erecting the two trussed end spuns was well under way. On October 18 of that yeur the Pennsylvonla Steel Company was awarded the contract for Hie erection of each of the two approaches and the commission Instituted condemnation proceedings for the purchase of sufficient land to bring tho bridge properly to earth.

The Manhattan approach with 12,000 tons of steel work was awarded at $1.4114,000 and the Ilrooklyn approach with 6,000 tons of steel at The succeeding summer saw the Williamsburg Bridge near enough to completion to become In actuality a bridge of soma sort. Amid a good deal of demonstration by noisy lugs and ferryboats, the first cable for the foot bridge was curried across tho river by a tug on August 11, lltoi, and the two ends of the bridge had physical connection. Other rubles were carried across and a temporary fool bridge quickly rigged for the benefit of the workmen who were to string Iho rabies. stove In the shanty nt the top of the tower and the dry timber falsework, well soaked with oil. made one of the mom beautiful and decidedly the most unique blaze ever witnessed hereabouts.

Tho workmen by meauj of a hasiy flight escaped with their Uvea. The Are department, which was called, found that the problem of handling a Ilerca lira 300 feet above their heads wns beyond their ken nnd the blnne burned Itself out, feeding; on every vestigo of wooden falsework about tho lower top and utterly destroying tha temporary footpath. Luckily, tho damage, which was first thought to be very great, wns found to be Inconsequential and was easily repaired. Tha work of carrying the bridge through Us final stages went steadily forward until the steel roadways were Joined on February 25 of tha present yenr. From thnt time until to-dny the construction of the briilgo has been greatly accelerated.

Engineers Duck and Nlrhols retired frsm the work nnd liulton II. lioblnnon, who had been with the work almost since Its Inception, wns placed la charge, Klng'ey S. Martin wns then mad resident engineer In chnrgo. These two men have had charge of the final stages In tha and Uieharil Doeves as eomrni ioiiejh, 'jpe communion iuii.iedialely organized ji if and as Itu oflb-ers; Andrew li. Purl, ideiit Salem II.

Wall pr aid Francis 11. Tiiurber, si cretary, and Ita hard lleovcs, treasurer, rt 1.. li'lek, a l.a i-liau -b nl elialtleer of vast iwpcriarire, Wa ap; alined chief engineer of the cnmnilsiion and to him was in'rusted the impor'nnt duly of dm ot the plana rerun bridge. At that time, the structure was ollhlally dubbed ih" East ltlver bridge I'tider the present, administration the more graceful imd illeMneljvo title of Williams-buig llrldgn was substituted for the strue. tore.

Tho commission Iminedlatidy npiioltit-ed as Us counsel n. Ingrahnni of Ilrooklyn and ex-Judgn William (1- of New York. It move, with dignity In Its great work, but wlili a celerity uncommon in such bodlns. Chief Engineer Buck way huay with the ds-tails of the great steel arch bridges at Si-sirara Kalis, In tli midst of that tremerii). ous work he took upon his broad shoulders tho milking of a struct urn aerostt the East sUfor that should bs considerably larger than Jnmmry 1, 1H02, nboimuen me mver Brldgo Commission, i nd the big, unfinished structure went undo the direction of the Department of nrldgrji.

H. T). Robinson and Klngaley 8. Mnrtln, whose father, C. C.

Martin was tho guiding genius of the Brooklyn Bridge for many years, became prominently associated with the engineering sinlt of tho work. With the cables completed, the steet approaches and end spans about ready for use and the temporary foot bridges almost ready for removal, the engineering force of the Will, lamsburg Bridge thought by November of last year they foresaw an early and easy ending to the difficult work of building the structure. They did not foresee the sensational and dramatic blase on the loth of that month i the very top of the Manhattan tower. Kor a few short hours the bridge work was In a state of great confusion. A "in and live years was allotted for the completion of the structure.

The time allow lite was only exceeded by a twelvemonth and this excess was entirely caused by a disastrous fire and vexatious delays In the lower building nnil eable-ninkltm over which the bridge engineers had not the slightest control. The plans im ihen filed met with strict adherence until the completion of the work. A single cluinge whs permitted by the Legislature hi May. lv.7. By Hie Ilrooklyn ter-uiluul was slightly changed so us to bring Beef.

HVUg "Nl ttttOlllfgttac" Provisions, -J 1 1 construction of the bridge. It Is largely dua to their energy thnt the work, which wus at one time so greatly delayed, has recently a lime. Thu hIiikIp wlrra are carried acroaa I lake 7.6H6 of thrae to make a single cable, rn ...1 1 1 1... I whan thla trout rlllMttil nt wlrn. hai tieen pusnca tornaru to so prompt a eoa The cables, as Is rather generally (Inder nimii niiMf'i.

Kiiuwil III urn vurittiirc ui iiiiu pletion. tood by this time, are built up ono wire at the bridgo builders as the "traveler." It I been' assembled It Is comparatively an easy 1 careless worhman naa rv.