89 Years Ago, Construction Began On The Golden Gate Bridge

Source: SF Gate, Katie Dowd
Photo: Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began on January 5, 1933. The bridge was completed and open on May 27, 1937. This UPI photo is undated.

Work started so quietly that the news barely made the paper.

“Without ceremony, without the tension which might be expected in the culmination of a dream of years, operators swung two big steam shovels into action at Lime Point, digging a pit for the Marin county shore anchorage,” the San Francisco Chronicle announced on page 19 of the Jan. 6, 1933 edition.

And, with that, the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge had officially begun.

Although the actual groundbreaking ceremony would take place a month later, Jan. 5, 1933 is the official birthday of California’s most beloved span. That day, 100 workers on the San Francisco and Marin sides of the bridge started digging the massive holes that would host the two anchorages. They’d eventually excavate 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt; By the end of the first six months, the Marin (north) tower was already done.

The bridge was seen not just as a great California accomplishment, but as a great international one. In February of 1933, the Sotoyome Scimitar of Healdsburg wrote that the bridge would be a “key link in the projected ‘all-coast’ highway system, eventually to stretch magnificently from South America to Alaska.”

Even though that lofty goal didn’t quite pan out nearly a century later, there’s nothing to disappoint about the Golden Gate. When the bridge opened to traffic on May 28, 1937, it was then the longest suspension bridge in the world; New York City’s Verrazano Narrows eclipsed it in 1964.

The Golden Gate Bridge was also finished ahead of schedule and under budget — a feat that’s hard to imagine happening today.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/1933-construction-begins-on-golden-gate-bridge