Extraordinary photos from history to celebrate the birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge

On this day in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opened to the public. Since then it’s become one of the most famous bridges in the world and a universally recognised symbol of not only San Francisco, but the United States itself.

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Here are a few amazing facts you might not know about one of the most photographed bridges in the world:

• It’s 2.73 kilometres long and has six lanes.

• It links San Francisco on the south with the northern suburb of Marin County. Before the bridge was completed, you had to go by boat.

• Construction began on January 5, 1933 and it took just four years and five months to build.

• It was built in the middle of the Great Depression and, impressively, finished ahead of schedule and under budget: the total cost was US$35 million.

• The bridge’s cables were made using almost 129,00 KILOMETRES of steel wire. If you put them into one single strand and wrapped it around the equator, it would circle the planet more than three times.

• The original design of the bridge was rejected as too ugly!

• When they finally broke ground on January 5, 1933, there was a massive celebration that included a parade, a message from then-President Herbert Hoover, a 21-gun salute and around 100,000 people watching on.

• For most of the construction, the site was fatality-free. A net (similar to what they string below a circus trapeze) was suspended under the bridge and saved 19 workers who would have otherwise plummeted into the water below. They were dubbed members of the “Halfway to Hell Club.’’

• However, the net didn’t save everyone and on February 17, 1937 a section of scaffold carrying 12 men fell through it. Only two survived the 60-metre fall into the waters below. In total, 11 men were killed in accidents during construction which was, at the time, a fairly low number for a project of this size.

• The Navy originally wanted the bridge be painted in black and yellow stripes while the Army Air Corps pushed for candy-cane red and white stripes! Its ultimate colour – called “International Orange” – was actually the colour of the primer used to coat the bridge!

• The bridge-opening celebration began on May 27, 1937 and lasted for a whole week. On “Pedestrian Day” roughly 15,000 people an hour went through the turnstiles.

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• It was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1964. These days, according to Wikipedia, it’s the 15th-longest.

• It’s one of the top suicide locations in the world.

• It’s been closed only a few times in its history – three times due to high winds, twice for visits from dignitaries (President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Charles de Gaulle of France), and on its 50th and 75th anniversaries.

• It’s been a scene stealer in loads of films, including The Maltese Falcon, Vertigo, A View to a Kill, The Rock and San Andreas. It’s also featured on the cover of a 1976 issue of Rolling Stone.

• By 2015, more than two billion motor vehicles had passed over the Golden Gate Bridge.