Framed Vintage Harper's Weekly Print The Jam At The Entrance To The Brooklyn Bridge (1885)

Framed Vintage Harper's Weekly Print: "The Jam At The Entrance To The Brooklyn Bridge" (1885)

Item: #4329

Step back in time with this striking piece of New York City history. This handsomely framed, authentic-style black-and-white print features an original illustration from Harper's Weekly, dated Saturday, August 29, 1885. Drawn by the renowned 19th-century artist T. de Thulstrup, the engraving—titled "The Jam At The Entrance To The Brooklyn Bridge"—captures the bustling, chaotic energy of Gilded Age commuters navigating the newly opened bridge.

Product Description

Showcased in a classic 1-inch reddish-brown wood frame and accented by a crisp 2-inch mat, this piece offers a sophisticated vintage aesthetic perfect for any home, office, or historical collection.

(Please note: The text in the reference file, contains a slight typo dating the event to "Aug 1835." The Brooklyn Bridge was not completed until 1883, and this specific publication dates to August 1885.)

Dimensions & Details

• Overall Frame Dimensions: 20 ¼” L x 15” W

• Frame Width: 1” (Wood)

• Mat Width: 2”

• Print Dimensions: 14 ½” L x 9.5” W

• Publication: Harper's Weekly (August 1885)

• Artist: T. de Thulstrup

Historical Context: The Brooklyn Bridge "Jam"

The scene depicted in this 1885 engraving does not represent a singular catastrophic event, but rather the overwhelming, daily reality of commuting in late-19th-century New York.

• An Instant Marvel: The Brooklyn Bridge was inaugurated in 1883 and was considered an absolute engineering marvel of its time. It provided the very first physical land crossing over the East River, connecting the independent, booming cities of New York (Manhattan) and Brooklyn.

• Massive Congestion: Almost immediately after its opening, the bridge became a critical artery. The terminals on both ends were soon overwhelmed by pedestrians, horse-drawn carriages, and cable cars. Thure de Thulstrup's engraving for Harper's Weekly perfectly captures this daily "jam," illustrating a dense, elbow-to-elbow crowd of commuters packed under the terminal's awnings.

• Early Anxieties: The sheer volume of people packed into the entrances was a point of real anxiety for early commuters. Just six days after the bridge opened in May 1883, a woman tripped on a stairway at the entrance; her scream sparked a panic among the tightly packed crowd, leading to a tragic stampede that killed 12 people.

• Restoring Confidence: The public's concern over the bridge's stability and the safety of the crowds was so high that in 1884, P.T. Barnum famously paraded 21 elephants across the span just to prove its strength to the skeptical public. By 1885, when this illustration was published, New Yorkers had largely accepted the bridge, but they still had to contend with the intense daily crush of foot traffic perfectly immortalized in this print.