The efforts of the other members of the design team were not adequately recognized until much later. In May 2007, the Golden Gate Bridge District produced a formal report on the famed bridge's 70-year management and chose to award Ellis substantial credit for its design. The report stated that "the masterful design of the Golden Gate Bridge is largely due to the contributions of John Ellis, who conceived of and designed the bridge with little support from government agencies or private industry."
Ellis died in San Francisco on February 25, 1963 at the age of 72. He was married to Clara Driggs Ellis for 52 years until her death in 2004. They had three children: Nancy, Peter and James.
In 1977, John Ellis was finally given full recognition for his work on the Golden Gate Bridge when he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The other two members of the bridge design team were also honored at this time: Charles W. Moore was presented with the National Medal of Arts and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. received the National Award for Artistic Excellence from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
John C. Ellis is one of only four people who have been awarded both the Nobel Peace Prize and the National Medal of Arts. The others are Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Schweitzer and Dorothy Day.
Strauss, Joseph B. Joseph B. Strauss led the way as Chief Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge. He worked with a skilled team of specialists to produce the renowned Golden Gate Bridge's final design. The bridge is one of the most recognized symbols of San Francisco and its location has helped make it a popular tourist destination.
Strauss was born on August 24th, 1855 in Bavaria, Germany. He came to the United States at a young age and settled in California where he learned about engineering from the gold miners as they built roads, bridges, and other forms of transportation. In 1883, he was appointed Chief Engineer on the San Francisco Bay Bridge project where he designed and constructed the first section that connected Oakland and Yerba Buena (now known as San Francisco) cities. This $150,000 project made him one of the most experienced engineers in the country.
In 1897, the State Legislature approved plans for another large bridge across the bay which would connect San Francisco with Marin County. The chief purpose of this new bridge was to provide access to a newly developed suburb named Golden Gate Park. It also allowed for more efficient traffic movement between San Francisco and the East Coast via the new Transcontinental Railroad which had just been completed. Strauss was commissioned to prepare the detailed design for the new bridge and work began in 1898.
5 Interesting Facts About the Golden Gate Bridge
Construction employees risked perilous circumstances as the highway and towers took shape over open ocean, given the possibility for permanent employment during the Great Depression. The Golden Gate Bridge, first opened to the public in 1937, has stood the test of time as a picturesque landmark and technical wonder. Its importance stems not only from its Bay Area connections but also because of its global recognition as an icon of freedom and democracy.
The bridge's official designation is United States Highway 101. However, because it is popularly known as the Golden Gate Bridge, this article uses that name for simplicity purposes only. There are two main reasons the Golden Gate is so significant that its removal would leave a serious gap in the landscape: first, its position near San Francisco makes it a valuable asset for transportation and communication; second, it represents a major achievement of modern engineering technology.
The original idea for a bridge across the Golden Gate came up as early as 1872 when a newspaper editor proposed building a suspension bridge. In 1933, after many delays, the current design was approved by Congress. Work on the bridge began that same year and it was opened to traffic in 1937. At the time of its opening, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Today, it remains one of the most important landmarks in California and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977.
As a result, San Francisco's city engineer, Michael M. O'Shaughnessy (who also came up with the term Golden Gate Bridge), began asking bridge engineers whether they could make it for less. Engineer and poet Joseph Strauss, a 5-foot Chicagoan born in Cincinnati, thought he could. He had already built two other suspension bridges and was now studying how to design a structure that would be stronger, better able to support traffic, and more affordable to build.
The key was using materials that were easy to get and inexpensive - like steel and wood - instead of granite or limestone, which required digging holes in the ground and taking out lots of rock, which are expensive. The challenge was finding a way to join these pieces of metal together without any joints showing, because the more visible the joint, the more likely it is to break down over time.
In 1906, just as the Golden Gate Bridge was beginning construction, the infamous San Francisco earthquake hit. It was one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in America, causing extensive damage and killing approximately 600 people. But what is even more amazing is that it didn't destroy the new bridge being built across the bay!
The Golden Gate Bridge has been praised for its beauty and considered an engineering marvel ever since it opened to traffic in 1937.
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