The Times has called the Brooklyn Bridge the "greatest engineering triumph of the century" and "one of the wonders of New York City." But even a historic landmark requires sprucing up. In 1925, 42 years after it opened, the bridge's spider web of cables needed a paint job. In this photo, fearless painters are coming down the bridge's vertical suspenders, hand under hand like sailors on a tall ship, probably after hearing a foreman's whistle to take a break.
The original caption to this photo, published in June 21, 1925, said, "Spring cleaning with the world's most famous cyclorama as a background: Painting the cables of Brooklyn Bridge. Where a misstep for the 'artists' means a cold bath in the East River."
When it opened May 24, 1883, it was called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and the East River Bridge, but it was later dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge. It was the longest suspension bridge in the world and the first to be held up by filaments of steel wire.
The nerves of potential painters were tested by having them walk along the bridge's towering horizontal cables, hundreds of feet above the river. Those who passed would soon learn first hand that the bridge's paint scheme is "Brooklyn Bridge Tan" and "Silver."
