The Emperor Norton Trust

TO HONOR THE LIFE + ADVANCE THE LEGACY OF JOSHUA ABRAHAM NORTON

RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY

EMPEROR NORTON BRIDGE  ::  History of the Bridge

THE SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND BAY BRIDGE
History, Original Plans, Photographs, Significance

Note: The PDF documents linked in this section are a little heavy and can be slow-loading — but they are well worth the wait.

In August 2001, the Bay Bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The supporting documentation includes this 55-page text detailing the background, history and significance of the bridge from concept through construction to built achievement, plus a photographic record illustrating the Bay Bridge from virtually every perspective.

There also is an extremely thorough portal of documentation of the Bay Bridge at HistoricBridges.org. Among the many resources on this page is a link to the original plans for the bridge, which shows — among many other things — that the "San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge" was conceived as a single entity comprising three basic parts: the "West Bay Crossing," the "Yerba Buena Crossing" and the "East Bay Crossing."


To return to the Overview of our bridge-naming project, click here.

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