JANUARY 5, 1933
Construction Officially Begins on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
From the beginning, the planning of the bridge faced numerous challenges, including opposition from skeptical city officials who were concerned about costs, environmentalists, ferry operators and some members of the engineering community who thought it was technically impossible to build. Funding was not easy to raise for the project at the beginning of the Great Depression. A $35 million bond issue to finance construction of the bridge was passed in California in 1930.
The Golden Gate Bridge, a 4,200-foot-long suspension span and its art deco design, was completed in four years.
Safety netting suspended under the floor of the bridge from end to end saved the lives of nineteen workers.
On May 27, 1937, some 200,000 people showed up to celebrate it opening.