Did 21 Elephants Really Stress-Test the Brooklyn Bridge?

When the Brooklyn Bridge opened in May 1883, it was hailed as a marvel of engineering, often called the Eighth Wonder of the World. But skepticism about its safety lingered, especially after a panic-driven stampede ended tragically just six days later. Enter circus impresario P.T. Barnum and his elephants to restore public confidence.

Spanning the East River to connect Brooklyn and New York, the Brooklyn Bridge, designed and engineered by John Roebling, debuted in 1883 as the world’s longest suspension bridge. Yet many New Yorkers feared that a structure so large could never be safe. 

Suspension bridges had a reputation for instability—known to collapse under their own weight, heavy traffic or strong winds, writes Ronald B. Tobias, author of Behemoth: The History of the Elephant in America. He cites the 1854 collapse of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge in West Virginia during a windstorm as an example. (Roebling had competed to design it, but had not been chosen.)

Still, on May 25, 1883, the day after its official opening, civic pride and curiosity prevailed: Some 150,300 pedestrians and 1,800 vehicles crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.

One week later, on May 30—Memorial Day—tragedy struck when crowds swelled to an estimated 20,000 people and panic broke out on a narrow staircase near the New York approach. According to historian David McCullough in The Great Bridge, two opposing crowds collided, creating an impassable bottleneck. The chaos intensified when a woman fell, triggering screams and a stampede that left 12 dead and dozens injured.

In the aftermath, Tobias writes, many blamed the panic on the bridge’s safety—though the claim was later disproven in court. Meanwhile, the bridge’s convenience couldn’t be ignored, he adds, and its use soared. Trains crossing the span transported 9 million passengers its first year, and 18 million the next.

However, the tragedy left a shadow over the bridge’s reputation. 

Seeking to restore public confidence, the bridge’s management company turned to showman P.T. Barnum. Known for his grand spectacles and traveling circus, Barnum had already offered to parade Jumbo, his prized 6-ton African elephant, across the bridge for a $5,000 “toll” fee. Initially declined, the offer was reconsidered after the Memorial Day disaster—this time with no toll required. “The directors of the New York Bridge Company felt they could convince the public the bridge was safe if the largest animal in the world walked across it,” Tobias writes.

On the evening of May 17, 1884, just shy of the anniversary of the panic, Barnum led a procession of 21 elephants and 17 camels across the bridge, with Jumbo bringing up the rear, as thousands of spectators watched. Flash technology for nighttime photography was still very limited, so the dramatic spectacle went uncaptured for posterity.

But the press came out. “England’s pet, old Jumbo, his Royal Sacredness, the white elephant, and the mighty name of Barnum added a new lustre to the bridge last night,” The New York Times reported the next day. “To people who looked up from the river at the big arch of electric lights it seemed as if Noah’s ark were emptying itself over on Long Island.”

The demonstration helped reassure the public about the safety of the Brooklyn Bridge. In 1964, it was designated a National Historic Landmark, and in 1972, a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.