Remembering the Brooklyn Bridge Elephant Stampede That Never Happened

Engineers and trustees of the Brooklyn Bridge are shown on the bridge during construction circa 1880 in New York City. The bridge opened to traffic in 1883.

There's a new monument sitting in Brooklyn Bridge Park: a trio of cold-cast bronze elephants, with a plaque dedicating the statue to the victims of the Brooklyn Bridge Elephant Stampede of 1929.

Okay, so it's a satirical piece of art by Staten Island-based sculptor Joe Reginella (the same artist behind last year's Staten Island Ferry Octopus Disaster statue). But the difference is, this elephant statue has a grain of truth.

WNYC's Shumita Basu speaks with Reginella to untangle fact from unfact and to unspool a bit of Brooklyn Bridge history, which does, in fact, involve elephants.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the location of the statue. The piece is in Brooklyn Bridge Park.