Emperor Norton for kids
The Emperor Who Wanted a Bridge. A true story near San Francisco, CA, told for kids 6-8.
Read along
Whoa, you are on the Bay Bridge! Here's a funny story. Long before this bridge existed, a man named Joshua Norton said the bay needed one. People called him Emperor Norton. He wasn't a real emperor, but he called himself one, and people in the city loved him!
Imagine a king in a funny hat, shouting, build me a bridge! Years later, the bridge was finally built. It opened in 1936, six months before the Golden Gate Bridge. That means the Bay Bridge is the big sister! Now it carries about two hundred sixty thousand cars every day.
That's a lot of honking! Here's your job. Look at the cars around you. Can you find a red one? Count all the red cars you see!
Quiz the back seat
Which bridge opened first?
Show the answer
The Bay Bridge. The Bay Bridge! It opened six months before the Golden Gate Bridge.
3 fun facts
- Joshua Norton advocated for a bay bridge around 1855 to 1860.
- The Bay Bridge opened on November 12, 1936, six months before the Golden Gate Bridge.
- It carries about 260,000 vehicles a day.
For grown-ups
Written with AI from public sources, then checked claim by claim against the sources below before it was published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
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Look at that little building next to the Cliff House. Do you know what is inside?Roads
Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).