The Brooklyn Bridge (originally the New York and Brooklyn Bridge) is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, and stretches 5,989 feet over the East River connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. On completion, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. At the time it opened, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. For several years after completion the towers were the tallest structures in the Western Hemisphere.