Add Your Piece of History… 1 August

• On this day in 1831.    New London Bridge is opened, replacing the 600-year-old London Bridge.  Engineer John Rennie started construction in 1825 and finished the bridge in 1831.  It was opened by King William the fourth, accompanied by Queen Adelaide on 1 August 1931.  A necessary widening process 70 years later weakened the bridge’s foundations to the point where it began sinking an inch every eight years.  In 1968, it was auctioned and sold for $2,460,000 to Robert McCulloch who moved it to Havasu City, Arizona, where it was rebuild brick by brick, and finally opened and dedicated on 10 October 1971.  The current London Bridge was completed in 1972 and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973.  It was build in conjunction with the careful dismantling of the previous bridge, so that a river crossing was maintained in use at the site at all times.

• On this day in 1873.  The world’s first cable car is installed in San Francisco.  The Californian city of San Francisco is notable for its steep streets.  Horse-drawn carriages could become dangerous in wet conditions, as the cobblestone roadways provided insufficient grip for the horses’ hooves.  In 1873, British inventor Andrew Smith Hallidie devised a system for overcoming the problem of public transport in the hilly city.  Using wire ropes, pulleys, tracks and grips, he invented the first cable car, based on a system he had already implemented in cable drawn ore cars for use in mines.  On 1 August 1873, the first cable car cruised down Clay Street, San Francisco, and was able to return back up the steep grade, a distance of 853 metres, rising 93 metres.

Please feel free to add your piece of history (something personal or general history).

Opening of the new London Bridge in 1831 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Andrew Smith Hallidie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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