Emily Warren Roebling
Emily Warren Roebling (1843-1903) was an engineer and vice-president of the Roebling Company of Trenton, which makes wire rope.
She was also the wife of Col. Washington A. Roebling, and In 1873, while Washington Roebling was building the Brooklyn Bridge, he became ill and was incapacitated. Emily Roebling took over the supervision of the work and saw to completion the building of the bridge, the first span over the East River from New York City to Brooklyn.
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References:
Weigold, Marilyn. “Building Brooklyn’s Bridge – The Newport Scenario.” Newport History 56, no. 3 (1983): 86-95.
Weigold, Marilyn E. 2019. Silent builder: Emily Warren Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1108873948
Questions to Explore
What are some other things Roebling was involved in building?
What were wire ropes used for in building?
How was Roebling received by the other builders and architect when she started helping with the supervision of the Brooklyn Bridge?
Additional Resources
Ferri Diane Vogel. 2020. No Life but This : A Novel of Emily Warren Roebling. Cleveland Ohio: ATBOSH Media. https://www.worldcat.org/title/1264297736
Wishinsky Frieda and Natalie Nelson. 2019. How Emily Saved the Bridge : The Story of Emily Warren Roebling and the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Toronto: Groundwood Books House of Anansi Press. https://www.worldcat.org/title/1080211189
Mills William Coleman. 2000. “The Monumental Other : Exhuming the Invisible Construction of Emily Warren Roebling.” Dissertation. Cornell University. . https://www.worldcat.org/title/44708691