The bridge crosses the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky. It opened to traffic on January 1, 1867, with a main span of 1,057 feet. That made it the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time.
John A. Roebling designed it. The planning took years: Steamboat and ferry owners lobbied against the bridge, and the Ohio legislature refused a charter at first. The bridge was built almost entirely in Kentucky, because the state line follows the north bank of the river.
The tower foundations on the Covington side went smoothly. On the Cincinnati side, Roebling got stuck with water in the pit, so he designed his own wooden pumps from three-inch pine planks and built them in about forty-eight hours. His most famous design, the Brooklyn Bridge, opened in 1883.