A modern feat of Depression-era engineering, the Golden Gate Bridge opened to the public on the historic day of May 27, 1937.
“The greatest task that ever challenged human genius, courage, and will has been accomplished,” J. Lawrence Toole wrote in the official commemorative program accompanying the bridge’s dedication.
“After nearly a century of dreaming, decades of discussion and five years of heroic labor, this bridge stands here as the most sublime steel structure on the planet,” he said.
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The souvenir project stated that the week-long Golden Gate Bridge Carnival, a series of celebrations of the Golden Gate Bridge, will begin at 6 a.m. on May 27.
In his welcome address in 2017, San Francisco Mayor Angelo Joseph Rossi said: “San Franciscans and citizens of the Redwood Empire look forward with eager anticipation to the opening of the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge to the world. of this day.
Pedestrians walk across the Golden Gate Bridge during Opening Day on May 27, 1937. (Getty Images)
“May this bridge be a bond that unites us forever in brotherhood,” he added. He thanked those who joined the city “to finance this incomparable building.”
Although the bridge is primarily used to transport motor vehicles across the Golden Gate from San Francisco to Marin County, the first day the bridge officially opened was for pedestrian traffic only.
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The Golden Gate Highway and Transportation District website states that an estimated 18,000 people were waiting to cross the bridge before it opened to traffic.
The numbers didn’t slow down as the day went on. An estimated 15,000 people crossed the Golden Gate Bridge every hour on opening day—about 200,000 people in total.
The Golden Gate Bridge in 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
On opening day, each pedestrian paid a 25-cent toll (equivalent to $5.30 in 2023 dollars) to cross the bridge, and “dozens of hot dog stands lined the road” to feed hungry pedestrians, the same website said.
In 2023, walking across the Golden Gate Bridge will be free.
Even so, cars traveling to San Francisco will still have to pay a $9.40 toll, according to the Golden Gate Bridge website.
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The website also states that the Golden Gate Bridge is 1.7 miles from abutment to abutment, with a span of 4,200 feet between the two towers.
When it opened, the Golden Gate Bridge had the longest single span in the world, which Toole called “the ultimate achievement of unparalleled engineering achievement” in the souvenir program.
The Golden Gate Bridge opened on this day in history, May 25, 1937. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)
Tull wrote: “The wonder of its size, its beauty and its grace will remain an enduring memory to every stranger who sees it for the first time.”
“They will be told its story and be amazed. The story and charm of the Golden Gate Bridge will be passed down from generation to generation by all who are captivated by it.”
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In addition to the first pedestrians walking across the bridge, May 27 also saw several other “firsts” in the bridge’s history.
When it opened to traffic on May 27, 1937, the span between the two towers of the Golden Gate Bridge was the longest in the world. (Getty Images)
A man named Florentine Calegeri walked across the bridge and back on stilts.
The two sisters were also the first people to roller skate across the Golden Gate Bridge, according to the Golden Gate Bridge website.
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Additionally, 11-year-old Anna Marie Anderson was the first child to go missing from the Golden Gate Bridge and later be found, according to the San Francisco Chronicle .
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