A convergence of gold rush-fueled spikes in land value with the inconvenience of moving between San Francisco and the peninsula by ferry led to a searches for a practical bridge for many a decade before it could actually be built. The costs of building across an area frequently hit by strong tides and heavy winds were simply too high. Only after engineering advances allowing a suspension design that would withstand the wind, and a proposal by accomplished bridge-builder Joseph Strauss, did the city agree to finance a construction.

On this day, January 5th, in 1933, work began on the structure that came to be called the Golden Gate Bridge, for the strait which it spanned. Completed, the bridge was 4,200 feet long, the largest in the world.

Due to pioneering advances in safety, remarkably only 11 people died in the four years of construction. Strauss insisted on a safety net for workers at the top of the bridge – those who were saved by it came to be called the “Halfway-to-Hell Club.” Meanwhile, thanks to an enterprising war veteran workers at the bottom for the first time wore hard hats.