The Golden Gate Bridge opened on this day in 1937, after five troubled years of construction, finally linking both sides of the Golden Gate Strait that separates the San Francisco Bay from the ocean. Storms, ever-present fog, and the need to set earthquake-proof foundations deep underwater made building the bridge difficult, and 11 workers died in the process. Its completion in the face of those challenges provided the Bay Area with a bright orange symbol of hope that the country was finally on the upswing after the Great Depression swept the nation in 1933, the same year construction began.
So why orange, anyway? Simple: The steel to build the bridge had been coated in a bright-red primer on its journey to San Francisco, and the consulting architect liked the look. To the eye, the red looked more like orange; that was made official when the hue was dubbed “international orange.” The bridge stood out for more than just its color: At the time, it was the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world.
Since then, it’s gotten some unfortunate press: Decades after its construction, people realized the lead paint coating the bridge was a public health issue, and a project was launched to recoat the landmark with zinc-based primer. It took until 1995, three decades after the new paint job got started, to finish the project.
Another worry arose in 1987, the bridge’s 50th anniversary, when 300,000 people swarmed it in a celebration, causing its middle — which arced above the water to allow ships to pass below — to sag by seven feet. To those hoping to drive or walk the bridge’s length, don’t worry; it’s built to bend specifically so it doesn’t break. You’ll want to bring an outer layer, though — it gets pretty chilly, and as your humble qAM editor once discovered, the visitor’s center charges a fortune for a jacket.
You can learn more about the bridge in this article from EBSCO.
