Iconic Williamsburg: The Williamsburg Bridge

YS GOLD 

Originally known as the East River Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge was completed in 1903 and, at 7,308 feet long, was the longest suspension bridge span in the world until 1924. It connects the Lower East Side of New York with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn—and its completion marked a fateful change in the history of both these neighborhoods forever. 

The words “Williamsburg Bridge” invoke tremendous nostalgia for anyone familiar with the history of Yiddishkeit in New York. They will recall how those early pioneers were able to make their way to back and forth between these two historic neighborhoods where Yiddishkeit thrived.  

Until the opening of the bridge in 1903, the only way across the East River to Williamsburg was by ferry boat. The story is told of the Yidden who would ferry across the river to the East Side in order to be able daven in Shul over Shabbos—because there wasn’t yet a complete minyan in Williamsburg. 

After the bridge opened, it became easier to access northern Brooklyn from Manhattan than from Downtown Brooklyn. Jewish and Italian immigrants moved to Williamsburg from Manhattan in large numbers following the bridge's opening. The bridge in particular helped spur the growth of Williamsburg's Jewish community: one newspaper nicknamed the bridge the "Jews' Highway.” The American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger wrote in 1910 that, in part because of the bridge's opening, "South Third and neighboring streets [in Williamsburg] are Jewish streets", and several synagogues had been developed near the Brooklyn end of the bridge.

The Williamsburg Bridge was formally opened on the afternoon of December 19, 1903 to horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, and pedestrians (trains did not begin crossing the bridge until 1908). Although the footpaths were not completed until April 24, 1904, the bridge was opened at the request of Mayor Seth Low before he left office. The bridge's opening was celebrated by parades in Manhattan and Brooklyn, a parade of 200 ships down the East River, and a fireworks display.

Vintage images from 1909 show Yidden coming to the bridge for tashlich—a tradition that has continued for more than a century hence. 

Less than ten years after the bridge opened, engineers noticed that the bridge would sag under the weight of heavy traffic. The bridge was subsequently modified to accommodate heavier 10-car, all-steel trains and motor vehicles. The trolley tracks on the north side of the bridge were replaced with roadways for automobiles in 1935, followed by the conversion of the trolley tracks on the south side of the bridge in 1947.

The Williamsburg Bridge was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2009. A bronze plaque is located on the Manhattan approach near the start of the pedestrian/bicycle path and the intersection of Clinton Street and Delancey Street.

Even today, with the community in the Lower East Side a fraction of its former glory, some Yidden continue to cross the bridge to daven in the old shuls of the East Side—continuing the tradition of their predecessors in Williamsburg of yore.