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Plans for a subaqueous tunnel are first developed, but the technology necessary to build tunnels through the mud and silt of riverbeds is not perfected until the late 1860s. |
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The Erie Canal opens, linking the Great Lakes to the Hudson. Stretching 363 miles through New York State from Albany to Buffalo, it had basins at Brooklyn and Buffalo and major branches to Oswego and Geneva. The canal stimulates development of the interior of the state and New York City’s port.
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Construction of the Croton Aqueduct, a large water conduit that provides the first dependable water supply for New York City, is completed. The 41-mile aqueduct, constructed of iron pipes protected by brick masonry, links the Croton Dam in upstate New York to a fortress-like distributing reservoir at 42nd Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan. |
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The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is organized. |
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Prospect Park in west central Brooklyn, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
and Calvert Vaux, begins construction. The scenic development plan features
a long meadow with a rolling expanse of lawn and trees, a lake, pavilions,
and stone arches to separate traffic from pedestrians. The undertaking
employs as many as 1800 men to move earth, lay an underground drainage
system, pave miles of roads and paths, plant grass, trees, shrubs and
erect bridges. The park becomes a popular resort, with almost two million
people visiting in 1868.
One of many innovations used to construct the park, this tree moving machine helped landscape the area, 1869 |
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The first segment of an experimental elevated train line opens to passengers along Greenwich and 9th Avenues, and runs to 30th Street, promising a faster alternative to the streetcar. The tracks are laid atop iron superstructures 30-feet above ground, and the cars are pulled by cables connected to a steam-powered generator at the terminus. By the end of the century, plans were adopted to replace the els with underground tunnels. The massive engineering project required the excavation of whole streets at a time, in this case, the corner of Great Jones & Elm Streets, 1901. |
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The first “skyscraper,” the 7 1/2 story Equitable Building is constructed. Designed by architects Gilman and Kendall with George B. Post, this was the first office building in New York City to include passenger elevators in its initial design (The building has since been demolished). |
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The first attempt to construct a tunnel under the Hudson River is made by Colonel DeWitt C. Haskin. Ground is broken under Hoboken for a tunnel to Morton Street in Greenwich Village. The project is abandoned in 1892 after 2,000 feet of tunnel is completed, due to financial setbacks. In 1902 William Gibbs Madoo takes over the project, forms the New York and New Jersey Railroad, and completes the tunnel, along with a parallel tunnel and a pair of tunnels linking Cortlandt Street in Manhattan and Exchange Place in Jersey City. The tunnels open in 1908-9. |
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The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is organized.
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The Brooklyn Bridge, a steel cable suspension bridge and the first bridge to link Brooklyn and Manhattan, opens across the East River. Designed by John A. Roebling, its span of almost 1,596 feet between two stone towers was for a time the longest in the world. The lavish dedication is attended by the mayors of Brooklyn and New York City, by Governor Grover Cleveland, and by President Chester A. Arthur. Invitation to the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, 1883 |
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Safety was certainly a concern as the Brooklyn Bridge was built. The anchorages were being set up on either side of the East River, and thin wooden planks were the only way to reach the support towers from land. The warning sign reads: "Safe for only 25 men at one time. Do not walk close together, nor run, jump, or trot. Break step!" and was signed by W. A. Roebling, who replaced his father John as Cheif Engineer when John Roebling died, ca. 1877 | 
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The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) is organized. | |||
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The 11-story Tower Building designed by Bradford L. Gilbert is constructed -- the first full skeleton, or “skyscraper” in the city. The metal frame construction of this narrow structure carried both walls and floors, allowing the walls to be reduced in thickness and the site to be used more efficiently. By the 1890s, skeleton construction becomes widely adopted in new structures, reshaping the visual landscape of lower Manhattan. One of the most notable skyscrapers to hit the City was the Flatiron building, whose distinctive triangular shape gave a name to the entire area. The building is shown here under construction, 1901. |
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The Williamsburg Bridge linking Manhattan with Williamsburg, Brooklyn opens, offering an alternative to the now overburdened Brooklyn Bridge. This steel suspension bridge is, when built, the longest and heaviest suspension bridge in the world and the first suspension bridge with towers made entirely of steel. Its 1,600 foot main span is suspended from four steel cables, each a foot and half thick, and is designed to support two subway tracks and four traffic lanes. Williamsburg Bridge caisson. Similar caissons were used for the Brooklyn Bridge, and allowed the work crews to embed concrete piers to support the towers, 1911 |
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The tunnels for the first subway line in the city, the Broadway line of Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) are constructed through the rocky center of Manhattan from City Hall to the northern tip of Manhattan. The tunnels for the new subway had to be dug far under the ground in some cases, particularly in the hilly areas near the tip of Manhattan. Here, the shafts are dug for the 181st Street Station in Washington Heights, 1901. |
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The Holland Tunnel opens -- the City’s first underwater tunnel for motor vehicles -- connecting lower Manhattan with New Jersey. Its ventilation system becomes a model for vehicular tunnels worldwide. | |||
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The steel-framed Gothic-style Riverside Church is completed. The interdenominational church, financed by John D. Rockefeller, contains the largest carillon in the world (74 bells) and is known for the excellence of its stone carving and stained glass. An above ground observation platform is reached by the tallest elevators in any church in the world. Steel scaffolding surrounding the tower rises over the lower section of the church. A fire in 1928 did some damage to the structure, but reconstruction was underway when this photo was taken in 1929. |
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The Empire State Building is completed. Dominating the skyline of Manhattan, this 1,250-foot tall, 102-story layer-cake shaped skyscraper breaks records for height and speed of construction, and remains the world’s tallest building until the 1970s. Its construction is a demonstration of modern engineering and managerial efficiency: demolition of the site begins in October 1929, and by April 1930 the first structural steel columns are set. At the peak of operations, 3,500 people are employed at the site, and in one 10-day period fourteen stories are added to the frame. | |||
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The double-decked George Washington Bridge is completed, spanning the Hudson River between 179th Street in Manhattan and Fort Lee, New Jersey. Built by the Port of New York Authority, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, until surpassed by San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. Designed to carry light rail and vehicular traffic, the bridge has a main span of 3,500 feet suspended 212 feet above the river between two steel towers. Construction on the George Washington looked similar to the work on New York's other spans, like the Manhattan Bridge construction shown here, ca. 1903-1910 |
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The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge linking Staten Island and Brooklyn is completed. Built by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, its 693 foot towers rest on steel and concrete caissons sunk into man-made islands of sand, and its 100 foot anchorages are set into the ground at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island. Computers were used to calculate the stresses that the parts of the bridge would be subjected to while the roadbed sections were hoisted into place and anchored to the cables. View from Staten Island of the bridge under construction; the France has just passed underneath. Photo by Lenox Studios, 1963. |
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