Brooklyn Today for July 31
Good morning. Today is the 212th day of the year. On this day in 1902, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an interview with Mayor Seth Low about his plans for rapid transit. He recommended that the Brooklyn Bridge be rebuilt to accommodate more elevated trains and more trolley cars. At that time, auto traffic was negligible. Although Mayor Low had no way of knowing this, the bridge would eventually be “taken over” completely by cars and trucks. Elevated trains stopped running over the bridge in 1944, and the trolley tracks on the bridge were removed in 1950.
Mayor Low also recommended that subway tracks be included on the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges, both of which were in the planning stages at the time. These plans were carried out, and subways still traverse these two bridges today.
Well-known people who were born today include Hall of Fame tennis player Evonne Goolagong, signer Gary Lewis (“This Diamond Ring,” “She’s Just My Style”), actor Don Murray (“Bus Stop’), football player Jonathan Ogden, author J.K. Rowling of the Harry Potter book and actor Wesley Snipes (“Jungle Fever,” “White Men Can’t Jump”).