Few structures achieve the status of the Golden Gate Bridge—so recognizable that it needs no introduction. Opened on this day in 1937, the bridge was a marvel of engineering, built to withstand ferocious winds above and swirling currents below. Its construction was embraced by the local population because it would finally connect the rising metropolis of San Francisco to communities in Marin County and all that lay north. Before the bridge was completed, a ferry was the only way across the Golden Gate, the mile-wide strait that connects the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco Bay. Building a bridge to cross the span would be no small feat, and many thought it impossible.
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
A sizzling summit hides in the clouds
-
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Washington
-
Tall, taller, tallest
-
Kirkilai lakes, Biržai Regional Park, Lithuania
-
Rapa Valley in Sarek National Park, Sweden
-
Under Parisian skies
-
National Merry-Go-Round Day
-
Halo around the sun
-
The borrowed days are here
-
A light on National Hispanic Heritage Month
-
Tafilalet oasis in Morocco
-
Christmas Eve
-
National Moon Day
-
National Panda Day
-
A lush, green escape
-
International Polar Bear Day
-
Maritime forest on Cumberland Island, Georgia
-
Okavango Delta, Botswana
-
Hawai i Volcanoes National Park at 106
-
Taking the scenic route
-
Aurora borealis
-
Val Gardena, South Tyrol, Dolomites, Italy
-
Hey, don t you guys have somewhere to be?
-
All eyes on sustainability
-
It s a ruff life
-
A peek at an explosive peak
-
A spectacle unlike any other
-
Birds of the Drömling
-
A treaty for science
-
Winter scenery near Kuhmo, Finland