The day the Brooklyn Bridge opened – level 3

24-05-1883

On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge, connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York, was opened to the public.

The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began in 1869 and took 14 years to complete.

The construction of the bridge was a challenging task as workers had to dig deep into the riverbed to anchor the bridge’s two massive stone towers.

Twenty-seven workers lost their lives during the construction.

The Brooklyn Bridge is 25 meters wide and 1833 meters long.

Just six days after the Brooklyn Bridge opened, a rumor spread that the bridge was going to collapse. That caused panic and many people were injured in the resulting stampede. However, the bridge was perfectly safe and remained open for many years.

Difficult words: riverbed (the channel in which a river flows), anchor (to fix something so that it doesn’t move), rumor (unofficial information which may not be true), stampede (a sudden uncontrolled run of many people in one direction).

What was the cause of the panic and stampede just six days after the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883?

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