The Bay Area has many significant buildings, structures, and monuments which make the city what it is today but none can compare to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge was opened May 27, 1937 which marked its start as becoming one of the most internationally recognized symbols in San Francisco and the United States as a whole. The American Society of Civil engineering acknowledged the Golden Gate Bridge as one of the Wonders of the Modern World due to its beauty and popularity among photographers, tourists, and civil engineering enthusiasts. The Golden Gate Bridge is a culturally significant object in the Bay Area because it ground the local community during tough times, the community rallied around its construction, the bridge was a spectacular engineering feat for Americans, and the Golden Gate Bridge inspired many artists through music, art, and film. The Great Depression was a terrible time in our nation’s history but it led President Hoover to commission the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and many other civil engineering projects throughout America.
The Great Depression was a worldwide economic depression which swept through nations following World War II in the early 1930’s. The Great Depression began in the United States where stock prices started to fall around September 4, 1929. The news of the market crash, also known as Black Tuesday, became worldwide news on October 29, 1929. “The Depression, as everyone soon learned to call it, was worldwide -- and it hit California like a ton of bricks. Suddenly, almost overnight, the mood darkened. Businesses that had been expanding suddenly cut back. People were laid off, couldn't pay their bills, couldn't find a new job. In those days, there was no such thing as unemployment insurance. No welfare, no social security, nothing” (Nolte, 1999). To counter the Great Depression, President Hoover established many civil