Emily Warren (1843-1903) was born in New York to Sylvanus Warren, a New York State assemblyman and his wife Phebe. Teenage Emily moved interstate to study at the Georgetown Academy in Washington DC, where she did science, astronomy, French and algebra.
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In 1864, she met her future husband, Washington, son of John Roebling, a German-American engineer noted for building suspension bridges. Washington had served as an engineering officer on the staff of Emily’s brother, Gen. G.K Warren, in the Civil War.
Emily and Washington married in 1865, and soon left for Europe to study caissons, watertight structures filled with compressed air that allowed workers to dig under the river and plant the bridge's footings. When they returned to U.S in 1868, Roebling Snr was preparing to build a suspension bridge across the East River. Sadly he died from tetanus following an foot accident at the bridge's construction site.
Washington promptly took over as chief engineer. But it wasn't long before he also collapsed from a building-related crisis. His frequent work in the pressurised caissons gave him the bends i.e decompression sickness; this terrible condition led to death or paralysis in 100+ workers. Washington was permanently bed-bound, from then on.
Emily Roebling became her husband’s secretary, taking detailed notes and relaying information from Washington to his assistants. She crisscrossed between home and the construction site, negotiating the supply materials, overseeing the contracts and acting as liaison to the board of trustees. Thankfully Emily was well educated in science, so she could become the surrogate chief engineer. She even managed competing parties, including Brooklyn's mayor, who tried to have Washington ousted from the project. For years, she supervised staff, inspected construction, and handled politicians and reporters, the public face of the project.
It could have ended badly for Emily. 14 years in the making, building the bridge was complicated by corrupt politicians and crooked contractors. But when it was done, Roebling was hailed for the master piece. During the bridge's opening ceremonies, U.S Congressman Abram Hewitt said the Brooklyn Bridge would be an everlasting monument to the sacrificing devotion of a woman and of her capacity for that higher education from which she has been long excluded. The bridge was finished in 1883.
Was anyone thinking of The Tay Bridge Disaster that had killed so many people just 4 years earlier?
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Emily and her son John were the first to cross the bridge, in a carriage. The workers stopped to cheer and lift their hats in respect. Most of the people involved in creating the bridge realised that Emily was the one who got it built. Even the press knew, but hesitated to explain her role clearly, because of society’s ingrained notions of womanhood. Yet on that day, thousands crossed under a fireworks-filled sky, with The Times noting “Today, there is a plaque on the bridge honouring all 3 Roeblings: Back of every great work we can find the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman.”
Afterwards, Emily devoted herself to women's and humanitarian causes. She travelled widely, and pursued further education. In 1899 she graduated in law at New York Uni, winning the first prize for her essay, A Wife's Disabilities, criticising many anti-women laws. She proposed eliminating laws discriminating against wives and widows, then argued her case in an Albany law journal article.
Later her contributions to Brooklyn Bridge were largely forgotten, with most remembering the accomplishments of her husband or father-in-law. But long active in suffrage, Emily chaired the state committee on women employed outside the home and worked with New Jersey’s officials planning the 1893’s Columbian Exposition.
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Emily died of stomach cancer in 1903.
The Brooklyn Bridge would go on to become the most photographed structure in the world; a gateway to that shining city whose granite towers and thick steel cables have inspired many artists, musicians, engineers and architects.
Conclusion
Brooklyn Bridge has lasted as an iconic piece of American architecture, but when the bridge was designed and built in the late 1800s, a bridge of its size was unprecedented, and perhaps impossible. In fact the project was dogged by physical, political and financial struggles throughout. When disaster struck both John and his son Washington Roebling, Emily Roebling had to take on the leadership role. Finally, connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan for the first time, the Brooklyn Bridge was the world’s longest suspension bridge then.
Emily Roebling Plaza is two-acre site at the base of Brooklyn Bridge, taking up 2 ks of neglected industrial water front. By the end of 2021, it will been transformed into a landscape of lawns, paths, playgrounds, sports facilities and a merry-go-round. It was the area Emily Roebling used as her office for 11 years, meeting daily with engineers and supervisors.
Read and see the photos in Emily Warren Roebling: The Woman Who Saved The Brooklyn Bridge
The magnificent bridge completed in 1883
linking Brooklyn and Manhattan
In 1864, she met her future husband, Washington, son of John Roebling, a German-American engineer noted for building suspension bridges. Washington had served as an engineering officer on the staff of Emily’s brother, Gen. G.K Warren, in the Civil War.
Emily and Washington married in 1865, and soon left for Europe to study caissons, watertight structures filled with compressed air that allowed workers to dig under the river and plant the bridge's footings. When they returned to U.S in 1868, Roebling Snr was preparing to build a suspension bridge across the East River. Sadly he died from tetanus following an foot accident at the bridge's construction site.
Washington promptly took over as chief engineer. But it wasn't long before he also collapsed from a building-related crisis. His frequent work in the pressurised caissons gave him the bends i.e decompression sickness; this terrible condition led to death or paralysis in 100+ workers. Washington was permanently bed-bound, from then on.
Emily Roebling became her husband’s secretary, taking detailed notes and relaying information from Washington to his assistants. She crisscrossed between home and the construction site, negotiating the supply materials, overseeing the contracts and acting as liaison to the board of trustees. Thankfully Emily was well educated in science, so she could become the surrogate chief engineer. She even managed competing parties, including Brooklyn's mayor, who tried to have Washington ousted from the project. For years, she supervised staff, inspected construction, and handled politicians and reporters, the public face of the project.
It could have ended badly for Emily. 14 years in the making, building the bridge was complicated by corrupt politicians and crooked contractors. But when it was done, Roebling was hailed for the master piece. During the bridge's opening ceremonies, U.S Congressman Abram Hewitt said the Brooklyn Bridge would be an everlasting monument to the sacrificing devotion of a woman and of her capacity for that higher education from which she has been long excluded. The bridge was finished in 1883.
During the construction of the bridge,
it was dangerous for the workers and it was agitating for the politicians
Emily and her son John were the first to cross the bridge, in a carriage. The workers stopped to cheer and lift their hats in respect. Most of the people involved in creating the bridge realised that Emily was the one who got it built. Even the press knew, but hesitated to explain her role clearly, because of society’s ingrained notions of womanhood. Yet on that day, thousands crossed under a fireworks-filled sky, with The Times noting “Today, there is a plaque on the bridge honouring all 3 Roeblings: Back of every great work we can find the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman.”
Afterwards, Emily devoted herself to women's and humanitarian causes. She travelled widely, and pursued further education. In 1899 she graduated in law at New York Uni, winning the first prize for her essay, A Wife's Disabilities, criticising many anti-women laws. She proposed eliminating laws discriminating against wives and widows, then argued her case in an Albany law journal article.
Later her contributions to Brooklyn Bridge were largely forgotten, with most remembering the accomplishments of her husband or father-in-law. But long active in suffrage, Emily chaired the state committee on women employed outside the home and worked with New Jersey’s officials planning the 1893’s Columbian Exposition.
Emily received her law degree
in 1899.
The Brooklyn Bridge would go on to become the most photographed structure in the world; a gateway to that shining city whose granite towers and thick steel cables have inspired many artists, musicians, engineers and architects.
Conclusion
Brooklyn Bridge has lasted as an iconic piece of American architecture, but when the bridge was designed and built in the late 1800s, a bridge of its size was unprecedented, and perhaps impossible. In fact the project was dogged by physical, political and financial struggles throughout. When disaster struck both John and his son Washington Roebling, Emily Roebling had to take on the leadership role. Finally, connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan for the first time, the Brooklyn Bridge was the world’s longest suspension bridge then.
Emily Roebling Plaza is two-acre site at the base of Brooklyn Bridge, taking up 2 ks of neglected industrial water front. By the end of 2021, it will been transformed into a landscape of lawns, paths, playgrounds, sports facilities and a merry-go-round. It was the area Emily Roebling used as her office for 11 years, meeting daily with engineers and supervisors.
Read and see the photos in Emily Warren Roebling: The Woman Who Saved The Brooklyn Bridge