Emily Roebling, the daughter of a Civil War general, was responsible for making many decisions about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, designed and engineered by her father-in-law and husband. She learned advanced mathematics in order to fulfill the Roebling dream. After spending nearly 15 years of her life helping her husband, she returned to college to learn law. She died at the age of 51.

Near lower Fulton Street, in 1855, the poet Walt Whitman printed the first ten pages of his well-known book of poetry, Leaves of Grass, on a press borrowed from some friends. On the same street, the original building for The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, founded in 1841, still stands as part of the southwest corner foundation and first few floors of the Eagle Warehouse, which now operates as a co-operative apartment building. Walt Whitman was the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from 1846 to 1848.

Construction on the Brooklyn Bridge began in 1869 and when it was finally completed in 1883, at 1600 feet in length, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

On Water Street, just under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, you will see a long building on the river side of the street. U. S. Customs used it for inspection of imported tobacco. Ninety percent of Brooklyn's shipping trade during the 19th and into the early 20th century was carried out along this dock area.

In 1807, Robert Fulton captained his steamboat, The Clermont, from the Brooklyn Ferry on its maiden voyage up the Hudson River. He traveled 110 miles and reached the home of his friend Robert Livingston in a record 24 hours. With Livingston’s influence, Fulton received the franchise in 1814 to operate his steamboat ferry, The Nassau, from Brooklyn to Manhattan.