Golden Gate Bridge: History & Facts
Opened on May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world for 27 years. Built during the Great Depression for $35 million, it remains one of the most photographed structures on Earth and carries over 40 million vehicles per year.
Construction Timeline
The Idea Takes Shape
City engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy and engineer Joseph Strauss first propose bridging the Golden Gate strait. Strauss submits an initial design in 1921 for a combination cantilever-suspension bridge. The idea faces fierce opposition from ferry operators, the military, and engineers who say it cannot be built in the strait's strong currents and 60 mph winds.
The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Forms
A special district is created encompassing six counties (San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Del Norte, Mendocino, and part of Napa) to fund and oversee the bridge. This governmental body issues $35 million in bonds to finance construction. Voters in the six counties approve the bonds by a 3-to-1 margin.
Design Refinement
Strauss brings in engineer Charles Ellis and architect Irving Morrow. Ellis performs the detailed structural analysis, transforming Strauss's ungainly hybrid design into the elegant Art Deco suspension bridge we know today. Morrow designs the tower details, lighting, railing, and chooses the International Orange color. Ellis does most of the engineering work but is later fired by Strauss over a dispute and receives no credit at the opening ceremony.
Construction Begins
Work starts on the bridge during the depths of the Great Depression. The project provides thousands of jobs. The south tower pier is the biggest challenge: it must be built 1,100 feet offshore in the open Pacific, in turbulent water with strong tidal currents. Workers build a massive concrete fender (a protective wall) around the pier site to shield construction from the ocean.
Tower Construction
The two main towers are erected. Each tower stands 746 feet above the water, contains 44,000 tons of steel, and is held together by 600,000 rivets. The south tower (San Francisco side) is particularly challenging due to its exposed ocean location. Fog, wind, and strong currents make construction dangerous. Workers are paid $4 to $11 per day.
Cable Spinning
After the towers are complete, the main cables are spun. Each of the two main cables is 36.5 inches in diameter and contains 27,572 individual wires. The total length of wire in the cables is 80,000 miles. The spinning is done by a traveling wheel that carries wire back and forth between the two anchorages. The cables sag 500 feet below the top of the towers at mid-span.
Roadway and Finishing
The suspended roadway is built outward from the towers in both directions. A massive safety net is strung beneath the construction site, saving the lives of 19 workers who fall during construction (they become known as the 'Halfway to Hell Club'). Tragically, 11 workers die on February 17, 1937 when a scaffold carrying 12 men breaks free and tears through the safety net.
Pedestrian Day
The Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic. An estimated 200,000 people walk, run, roller skate, and even stilts-walk across the bridge on its first day. The celebration continues with a week-long festival.
Vehicle Traffic Opens
President Franklin D. Roosevelt presses a telegraph key in the White House to signal the bridge's opening to vehicle traffic. The first vehicles cross at noon. The initial toll is 50 cents each way for a car plus 5 cents per passenger, or $1 round trip (about $22 in 2026 dollars).
International Orange
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The Golden Gate Bridge's iconic color is called International Orange. It was not the original plan. The steel arrived from the east coast with a red-orange primer (iron oxide) to protect it from corrosion during shipping. Consulting architect Irving Morrow saw the primer against the natural landscape and was struck by how beautifully it complemented the green hills, blue water, and grey fog.
The U.S. Navy had pushed for the bridge to be painted with black and yellow stripes to make it visible to ships. The Army Air Corps suggested candy-cane red and white. Morrow argued successfully for the warm orange tone, which he said enhanced the bridge's visibility in fog while harmonizing with the natural environment.
The bridge is continuously repainted. A team of 38 ironworkers and painters works year-round, touching up areas where salt air, wind, and fog have worn away the protective coating. The bridge has never been "fully repainted from end to end" in a single project. Instead, the crew identifies and treats the most corroded areas on a rolling basis, using about 10,000 gallons of paint per year.
Engineering Statistics
| Total length (with approaches) | 8,981 feet (1.7 miles) |
| Main span (between towers) | 4,200 feet (0.8 miles) |
| Width | 90 feet |
| Clearance above water | 220 feet at mid-span |
| Tower height above water | 746 feet |
| Tower height above roadway | 500 feet |
| Main cable diameter | 36.5 inches |
| Wires per cable | 27,572 |
| Total wire in cables | 80,000 miles |
| Total steel | 83,000 tons |
| Total concrete | 389,000 cubic yards |
| Rivets in each tower | 600,000 |
| Deepest foundation | 110 feet below water |
| Traffic lanes | 6 (direction changes via movable barrier) |
| Sidewalk width | 10 feet (each side) |
| Weight of bridge | 887,000 tons (total dead load) |
| Maximum sway | 27.7 feet (lateral, in high wind) |
| Designed wind resistance | 100 mph |
The People Who Built It
Joseph Strauss
The driving force behind the bridge. Strauss was a short, combative man who spent years lobbying politicians, fighting opponents, and raising money. His original design was an awkward hybrid, but he had the political skills to make the project happen. He received primary credit at the opening, though the elegant final design was largely the work of Ellis and Morrow.
Charles Ellis
The mathematical genius behind the bridge's structural design. Ellis performed the enormously complex calculations that made the suspension bridge possible. He was fired by Strauss in 1931 over a personal dispute and received no credit at the opening ceremony. His contribution was not officially recognized until 2007, when a plaque was added to the bridge in his honor.
Irving Morrow
Responsible for the bridge's Art Deco aesthetic. Morrow designed the stepped-back tower details, the railings, the lighting fixtures, and chose the International Orange color. His architectural touches transformed what could have been a purely functional structure into an iconic work of art.
Leon Moisseiff
Contributed the deflection theory of suspension bridge design that allowed the bridge to be built with a much more slender and elegant profile than previously possible. Moisseiff also consulted on the design of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which famously collapsed in 1940.
Cultural Significance
The Golden Gate Bridge is consistently ranked among the top wonders of the modern world. The American Society of Civil Engineers named it one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World in 1994. It is the most photographed bridge in the world and appears in countless films, television shows, and advertisements as a symbol of San Francisco and California.
The bridge was built during the Great Depression, and its construction provided jobs for thousands of workers at a time when unemployment in San Francisco exceeded 25%. The $35 million bond issue was backed by the properties and farmlands of six counties, a remarkable act of civic faith in the depths of the economic crisis. The bonds were fully repaid, with interest, in 1971.
The name "Golden Gate" does not refer to the bridge's color. It comes from the Golden Gate strait, the narrow channel connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. The strait was named "Chrysopylae" (Golden Gate) by Captain John C. Fremont in 1846, reportedly because it reminded him of the Golden Horn harbor in Istanbul.