Emily Warren Roebling

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Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran : Portrait of Emily Warren Roebling, ca.1896

Emily Warren Roebling (born September 23, 1843 Cold Spring (New York) , † February 28, 1903 in Trenton (New Jersey) ) was the wife of Washington Augustus Roebling , who planned his construction for the Brooklyn Bridge in New after the illness of her husband York City continued.

Born Emily Warren, she came from an upper-middle-class family in Cold Spring, the second youngest of 12 siblings. In 1864 she visited her brother General Governor Kemble Warren (who was a pioneer officer and engineer) in his encampment and met officer Washington Roebling there, with whom she then corresponded and whom she married in 1865. After the Civil War, she traveled with her husband to Europe, where her husband was supposed to clarify technical questions in connection with the suspension bridge planned by his father John August Roebling over the East River in New York. Their son John A. Roebling II was born on the visit to Europe (in the hometown of John August Roebling, in Mühlhausen). Before the actual construction of the bridge began, John August Roebling died in 1869 of a tetanus infection. His son Washington Roebling contracted caisson disease a few years later (he often stayed in the caissons for the pillar in the river) and was partially paralyzed and only partially able to work. Nevertheless, the bridge could be completed in 1883 "with the effective, tough, intelligent support of his wife" without the Roeblings losing control of the project. She had taught herself the mathematical and engineering skills required for this in self-study and at the same time, as site manager, implemented the instructions given verbally and in writing extremely carefully and carefully. She also took care of her husband. From 1874 to 1876 they temporarily moved back to Trenton, as her husband couldn't stand the proximity of the construction site on his nerves; when it came to spinning and installing the suspension ropes, her husband went back to New York.

The Brooklyn Bridge, which spans the East River and connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn , was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was completed . When it opened in 1883, she rode across the bridge with President Chester A. Arthur .

After the bridge was built, she moved to Trenton, New Jersey , where the family business was based and she oversaw the construction of her home. She took an active part in social life, for example with the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Huguenot Society. She traveled a lot, attended the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in Russia and was introduced to Queen Victoria in London in 1896. During the Spanish-American War , she worked as a nurse and construction manager at the Montauk camp on Long Island, where the returning soldiers were cared for. In 1899 she graduated from New York University with a law degree.

literature

  • Richard Weingardt: Engineering Legends: Great American Civil Engineers: 32 Profiles Of Inspiration And Achievement. American Society of Civil Engineers Publications, 2005, ISBN 0784408017 , pp. 55 ff. (English; preview in Google book search).
  • Marilyn Weigold: Silent Builder: Emily Warren Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge. Associated Faculty Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8046-9349-8 .
  • David McCullough: The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Simon and Schuster, 1972.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julia Tahedl: Emily Warren Roebling: "I do not know if I am the first female civil engineer". In: Heise online . April 12, 2013, accessed April 12, 2013 .
  2. ^ Richard Weingardt: Emily Warren Roebling. In: Engineering Legends: Great American Civil Engineers. 2005, p. 58.
personal data
SURNAME Roebling, Emily Warren
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of Washington Augustus Roebling
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Cold Spring (New York)
DATE OF DEATH February 28, 1903
Place of death Trenton, New Jersey