The designer of the Golden Gate Bridge, a suspension bridge
spanning the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific
Ocean, was Joseph B. Strauss (born January 9, 1870). Strauss, an
engineer, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and his love for bridges came
from a hospital stay when he was in college. His room overlooked the
Cincinnati-Covington bridge which sparked his interest in bridges.
An 1892 graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Joseph Strauss
astonished the audience at graduation exercises by proposing to
bridge the Bering Straits. After working in other firms, he formed his
own company in 1902, eventually building more than 500 bridges,
and earning 100 patents along the way. The Golden Gate project was
the culmination of his career. Strauss placed a brick from UC's
original McMicken Hall in the bridge's south anchorage. The bridge
was completed in 1937. Strauss died in 1938.
The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge span in
the world when it was completed in 1937, and has become one of the
most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California,
and of the United States. It still has the second longest suspension
bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows
Bridge in New York City. It has been declared one of the modern
Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Source (data): wikipedia.com, www.uc.edu Source (photo): Wikimedia Commons
spanning the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific
Ocean, was Joseph B. Strauss (born January 9, 1870). Strauss, an
engineer, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and his love for bridges came
from a hospital stay when he was in college. His room overlooked the
Cincinnati-Covington bridge which sparked his interest in bridges.
An 1892 graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Joseph Strauss
astonished the audience at graduation exercises by proposing to
bridge the Bering Straits. After working in other firms, he formed his
own company in 1902, eventually building more than 500 bridges,
and earning 100 patents along the way. The Golden Gate project was
the culmination of his career. Strauss placed a brick from UC's
original McMicken Hall in the bridge's south anchorage. The bridge
was completed in 1937. Strauss died in 1938.
The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge span in
the world when it was completed in 1937, and has become one of the
most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California,
and of the United States. It still has the second longest suspension
bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows
Bridge in New York City. It has been declared one of the modern
Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Source (data): wikipedia.com, www.uc.edu Source (photo): Wikimedia Commons
AGC Did You Know?
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Posted August 2011