SQUIBB BRIDGE
Located on Middagh Street between Columbia Heights and Furman Street, the ¾ acre Squibb Park opened in December 1951, along with the final section of the Brooklyn Promenade, as part of Robert Moses’s elaborate BQE project. In 1959, the park was named after Dr Edward Robinson Squibb, a physician and local pharmaceutical manufacturer who improved ether distillation methods, enabling it to be used as an anesthetic.
In 2013, the 400 ft. long Squibb Bridge was opened to create a connection between Brooklyn Heights and the newly redeveloped Brooklyn Bridge Park. At a cost of $4.1 million, the bridge was designed by Ted Zoli and was built with over 100,000 pounds of black locust timber, a durable wood previously utilized for ships masts. Utilizing trail bridge technology typically employed in state and national parks, Squibb Bridge’s suspension design featured a natural bounce, which eventually became a safety concern and led to its closure in August 2014. After remaining closed for nearly three years and after 2.5 million in repairs, the bridge finally reopened to the public on April 19, 2017.
Merandy, Jesse. “Squibb Bridge.”