During the first half of the nineteenth century, Brooklyn changed very little from the time it was settled, while the city of Manhattan got international attention and acclaim for the huge wave of people immigrating there in exponential numbers. "At the start of the nineteenth century, when talk of a bridge first began, there had been fewer than five thousand people in the entire county (Brooklyn), more than a thousand of whom were not there by choice, being black slaves."(1) Much to the dismay of the Brooklynites, who were very loyal and defensive of Brooklyn, the county was known as "Manhattan's Dormitory." They did not want to be known as an attachment, clinging to New York City's lucrative reputation.
The very rapid growth of Manhattan (after the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825) had a direct effect on the population of Brooklyn. Many poor immigrants settled in the less expensive rural areas of Brooklyn and commuted daily into "The City" for work, as S.W. Green commented in 1883, "Of course, as New York grows in numbers, a constantly increasing population of those who do business there must 'live' away from its present limits."(2) In 1834, Brooklyn was recognized as a city. Improvement in transportation and technology enabled the growth and inhabitation of more remote, rural areas. The Consolidation Act of 1854 joined Williamsburg and Bushwick to Brooklyn and the population increased dramatically. The population soared to over 600,000, making Brooklyn the third largest city in America. Although most Manhattanites did not consider Brooklyn on the same plane of importance as Manhattan, Brooklyn became a major manufacturing center.
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An intense rivalry formed between the two cities. "When Central Park was under construction, Brooklyn had enticed Fredrick Olmstead to build its Prospect Park in 1866."(3) There was no unity, no connection between the two cities. This link was a necessity. The people of Brooklyn needed it in order to travel to and from New York City, and Manhattan wanted it in order to demonstrate its distinction between the rest of America. It would be the bridge that would provide the symbolic link between the two rival cities that would help the greater city to finally coalesce.
2. S.W. Green, The Complete History of the New York
and Brooklyn Bridge. (New York, 1883) page 59