Building the Golden Gate Bridge

The concept of bridging the vast Golden Gate Strait was proposed as early as 1872 by railroad entrepreneur Charles Crocker. It was not until 1916, however, that the idea of a bridge was revived by James Wilkins, newspaper editor of the San Francisco Call Bulletin. He began an editorial campaign for a bridge which caught the attention of San Francisco City Engineer Michael M. O'Shaughnessy. O'Shaughnessy began a national inquiry among engineers regarding the feasibility and cost of such a project. The majority of engineers said a bridge could not be built.  Some speculated it would cost over $100 million. However, Joseph Baermann Strauss, a designer of nearly 400 spans, said such a bridge was not only feasible, but could be built for only $25 to $30 million.

Strauss submitted his preliminary sketches of a symmetrical cantilever-suspension hybrid bridge to O'Shaughnessy, with an inital cost estimate of $17 million on June 28, 1921, with the cost estimate for the hybrid design rising to $21 million by 1925. Strauss then dedicated himself to convincing civic leaders that the span was feasible and could pay for itself with tolls alone. He became the believer who organized the political, financial and promotional efforts to build the Bridge.

The time was right to span the Golden Gate strait linking the city of San Francisco and the County of Marin.  Population centers were growing, and traffic congestion at the ferry docks was becoming intolerable. There was no federal or state funding to build the Golden Gate Bridge because the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which was being promoted during the same time period, had already received the limited funds available.

The idea of forming a special district to construct the Golden Gate Bridge was proposed in 1922 by O'Shaughnessy, Strauss and Edward Rainey, Secretary to the Mayor of San Francisco. They believed a district was necessary to oversee the financing, design and construction of the Bridge so that all counties affected would have a voice in the proceedings.

To the north in Sonoma County, a historic meeting was called by Franklin Doyle, a local banker, on January 13, 1923. At this mass meeting of representatives from twenty-one counties the "Association of Bridging the Gate" was formed. Working with State Assemblyman Frank L. Coombs of Napa and Marin County attorney George H. Harlan, the Association drafted legislation creating the Bridge District.  The "Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act" was enacted by the California State Legislature on May 25, 1923. The enabling legislation gave counties the right to organize as a bridge district and borrow money, issue bonds, construct a bridge and collect tolls.

The future of the Bridge was then in the hands of the War Department. Only it could authorize construction.  It was the War Department which had jurisdiction over all harbor construction that might affect shipping traffic or military logistics, and which owned the land on either side of the Golden Gate Strait.  In the spring of 1924, San Francisco and Marin counties made a joint application for a permit to build the Bridge. The War Department held a hearing on May 16, 1924 to discuss two issues:  would the Bridge hinder navigation and was adequate financing available. Because of overwhelming testimony in favor of the Bridge project, Secretary of War John W. Weeks issued a provisional permit on December 20, 1924.

Strong opposition to spanning the strait emerged from well-financed special interests, particularly ferry companies. An aggressive campaign was launched to stop construction of the Bridge and the formation of the district. However, proponents of the Bridge prevailed.  On December 4, 1928, the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District was formed to design, construct and finance the Golden Gate Bridge. The District consisted of San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Del Norte and parts of Mendocino and Napa counties. The Boards of Supervisors of the District counties appointed directors to the Bridge Board and they held their first meeting on January 23, 1929.

Eleven of the nation's leading bridge engineering firms submitted proposals for constructing the span. Joseph B. Strauss was selected on August 15, 1929, as Chief Engineer. Leon S. Moisseiff, O.H. Amman and Charles Derleth, Jr. were named Consulting Engineers. On August 11, 1930, the War Department issued its final permit for the construction of a suspension bridge with a 4,200-foot main span with a vertical clearance of 220 feet at mid-span. On August 27, 1930, Strauss submitted final plans to the Golden Gate Bridge District Board.

On November 4, 1930, voters within the District went to the polls and put their homes, farms and business properties up as collateral to support a $35 million bond issue to finance the building of the Bridge.  For some, the timing of the bond election was considered economically reckless as it would create bonded indebtedness during the Great Depression.  Others said Bridge construction represented the economic relief needed from the Great Depression.  After the vote, it was clear the people believed in Strauss' vision.  145,697 people voted for the bond issue; 47,005 voted against it.

In November 1932, contracts totaling $23,843,905 were awarded for the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge which commenced on January 5, 1933. The authorized bond issue was for $35 million and the total construction cost came in at $35 million which included $27,125,000 for the construction of the structure, $2,050,000 for Engineering and Inspection, $423,000 for Administrative and Preliminary Expenses, $4,068,000 for Financing, and $1,334,000 in surplus. The $27 million for final construction of the span is higher than the $23 million for the initial construction bids as other items were included in the final cost such as the toll plaza ($450,000), toll collection equipment ($72,000), tower elevators ($60,000), miscellaneous equipment ($45,000), and Military replacements and improvements ($575,000).

According to the San Francisco newspaper on February 27, 1933, the start of construction was meet with great delight. A celebration at nearby Crissy Field went on for hours with at least 100,000 people in attendance. “Two hundred and fifty carrier pigeons, provided by the San Francisco Racing Pigeon Club to carry the message of groundbreaking to every corner of California, were so frightened by the surging human mass that small boys had to crawl into their compartments in the bridge replica to shoo them out with sticks.”

During construction, Joseph B. Strauss insisted on the use of the most rigorous safety precautions in the history of bridge building. Edward W. Bullard, a local manufacturer of safety equipment, designed protective headgear that Strauss insisted be worn on the job. This was a prototype of the hard hat, worn for the first time ever along with glare-free goggles. Special hand and face cream protected against the wind, while special diets helped fight dizziness. The most conspicuous precaution was the safety net, suspended under the floor of the Bridge from end to end. During construction, the net saved the lives of nineteen men who became known as the "Half-Way-to-Hell Club."  Until February 17, 1937, there had been only one fatality, setting a new all-time record in a field where one man killed for every million dollars spent had been the norm. On February 17, ten men lost their lives when a section of scaffold carrying twelve men fell through the safety net.

The Bridge was completed and opened to pedestrian traffic on May 27, 1937. The following day it was opened to vehicular traffic. The last of the construction bonds were retired in 1971, with $35 million in principal and nearly $39 million in interest being financed entirely from Bridge tolls.

The Chief Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, Joseph B. Strauss, with the assistance of Strauss Engineering (later to become Strauss and Paine, Inc.) Vice Presidents Charles A. Ellis and Clifford E. Paine, Consultant Engineers O.H. Ammann, Charles Derleth, Jr. and Leon S. Moisseiff, Consulting Architects Irving F. Morrow, along with many dedicated workers and professionals, oversaw the creation of a structure which has become world-renowned, earning the reputation as the world's most spectacular Bridge and one of the most visited sites in the world.