Crossing the East River

When Edison recorded this, the Brooklyn Bridge was sixteen years old. Look at it, all surly and rebellious.

Even in 1899, the bridge’s best views clearly belong to the pedestrian walkway.

The train pulls into Park Row station, which stood until 1944 servicing a half dozen elevated BMT lines. It’s on the right in the 1911 photo below; City Hall is on the left. In the background the beautiful Manhattan Municipal Building is under construction, preparing to house a city government growing rapidly after the boroughs’ 1889 consolidation.