Read the excerpt from "Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge" by Hon. Seth Low, Mayor of the City of Brooklyn. The importance of this Bridge in its far-reaching effects at once entices and baffles the imagination. At either end of the Bridge lies a great city—cities full of vigorous life. The activities and the energies of each flow over into the other. The electric current has conveyed unchecked between the two the interchanging thoughts, but the rapid river has ever bidden halt to the foot of man. It is as though the population of these cities had been brought down to the river-side, year after year, there to be taught patience; and as though, in this Bridge, after these many years, patience had had her perfect work.

After its construction was finished, the Brooklyn Bridge was

the first suspension bridge in the world.
the longest suspension bridge for its time.
the world’s most expensive construction project.
the first monument built with concrete and metal.