Then & Now: The Queensboro Bridge

The Queensboro Bridge was the first bridge connecting Queens to Manhattan. Without it, Manhattan would have become rapidly overpopulated. Henry Hornbostel and Gustav Lindenthal designed the bridge and ended Queens' isolation, but the way culture has evolved around it is even more interesting.

Then

Construction began in July 1901, and it cost $17 million. The bridge opened on March 30, 1909, ending Queens' isolation. In one decade, over 250,000 people flooded into Queens. The first photo was taken in 1903 from East 55th Street in Manhattan, facing Queens. The building behind the house on the right is the Blackwell's Island Penitentiary. The prison was built with an 800-cell capacity, where convicts spent their days performing arduous labor. The house in the picture is the City Almshouse & Medical Facilities, which served as the medical facility for the “lunatics” and convicts at Blackwell’s Island Penitentiary.

Now

In a photo of the bridge today, the Cornell Tech campus sits on the right, bustling with students of technology, business, law, and design, a stark contrast to the penitentiary that once stood there. In the bottom middle of the image is the Roosevelt Island Racquet Club, an indoor tennis club offering Har-Tru clay courts, professional instruction, and competitive programming. The buildings on the left are a mix of small businesses. The environment is completely different from what it was over one hundred years ago.

From home to asylum and prison to a hub of sports and education centers, Queens has shifted over the years. This is all thanks to Henry Hornbostel and Gustav Lindenthal, who intended to help the overpopulated borough of Manhattan. They couldn't have known what kind of long-term contribution they were really instigating.