John Augustus Roebling

American engineer

Donald Sayenga
Fact-checked by

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Article History

John A. Roebling
Category: Science & Tech

Born: June 12, 1806 Mühlhausen Germany

Died: July 22, 1869 (aged 63) New York City New York
Notable Family Members:son Washington Augustus Roebling
John Augustus Roebling, original name Johann August Röbling,
(born June 12, 1806, Mühlhausen, Prussia [now in Germany]—died July
22, 1869, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.), German-born American civil
engineer, a pioneer in the design of suspension bridges. His best-known
work is the Brooklyn Bridge of New York City, which was completed under
the direction of his eldest son, Washington Augustus, and daughter-in-
law Emily Warren Roebling in 1883.

After taking classes at the building academy in Berlin for two semesters,
Roebling worked for the Prussian government for three years and at the age
of 25 emigrated to the U.S. He settled with his elder brother Carl and others
from his hometown of Mühlhausen, Prussia (now in Germany) in a small
colony that was later called Saxonburg, near Pittsburgh, in the hills of
western Pennsylvania. He married the daughter of another Mühlhausen
emigrant, and they had nine children. When Carl died unexpectedly a short
while later, John abandoned the colony and went to the state capital
in Harrisburg to seek employment as a surveyor.

During his surveying work, Roebling studied the state-owned Portage

Railroad, where a combination of level tracks with inclines connected the
two primary canal systems of the commonwealth across the Allegheny
mountain ridges. He suggested the service life of the hemp ropes on the
inclines might be improved if they were made of wrought iron wire. He
developed his own method for stranding and weaving wire cables, which
proved to be as durable as he had predicted. The demand for such cable
soon became so great that he established a factory to manufacture it
in Trenton, New Jersey. This was the beginning of an industrial complex
that finally was capable of producing everything from wire cloth to
enormous suspension bridge cables 36 inches (91 cm) in diameter. It
remained a family-owned business until 1952, carried on by three
generations of Roeblings.

The success of his business allowed him freedom to create many proposals
for suspension bridges and aqueducts. He made dozens of designs and
completed 12 structures in the period between 1844 and 1869, including
suspension bridges in Pittsburgh and at Niagara Falls. His eldest
son, Washington, joined him in his work in 1858, and together they built
another suspension bridge in Pittsburgh and one across the Ohio
River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, with a main
span of 1,051 feet (320 metres). Roebling’s design for
a bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan with a span of 1,595 feet (486
metres) was accepted in 1867, and he was appointed chief engineer of the
project.

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City

Work on the bridge cost Roebling his life. He went to examine the site of
the Brooklyn tower and stood on the moveable rack of a ferry slip to get a
better view. A docking boat hit the rack, and his toes were crushed in the
woodwork. He was taken to a bathhouse where he was residing, and he
intended to self-treat his injuries with hydrotherapy, a bogus medical
treatment in which water was constantly poured on the wound. A doctor
suggested relocation to his son’s home in Brooklyn, and, though a surgeon
initially treated and dressed the wound, Roebling ordered the doctor away
and resumed his own treatment using unboiled local well water. Three
weeks later he died of tetanus at the age of 63. His son and daughter-in-law
Emily Warren Roebling continued his work on the Brooklyn Bridge, which
opened in 1883.

Brooklyn Bridge
bridge, New York City, New York, United States
Print Cite Share Feedback
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: Aug 29, 2023 • Article History

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City

Learn about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and understand it as a unique
application of Hegelian philosophy
See all videos for this article

New York City: Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge, suspension bridge spanning the East
River from Brooklyn to Manhattan in New York City. A brilliant feat of
19th-century engineering, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first bridge to
use steel for cable wire, and during its construction explosives were used
inside a pneumatic caisson for the first time. Since its construction,
the bridge has become an essential landmark of New York City—an
outstanding architectural accomplishment that is still revered across the
world. Accordingly, it has been designated a National Historic Landmark by
the U.S. National Park Service.

Brooklyn Bridge: construction

The masterwork of John Augustus Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge was built
(1869–83) in the face of immense difficulties. Roebling, an engineer, had
developed his own method for weaving wire cables, which became one of
the leading constructional components of his bridge designs. He built a
series of suspension bridges, including the Cincinnati–Covington Bridge,
later renamed the John A. Roebling Bridge. He died at the beginning of the
Brooklyn Bridge’s construction as a result of an accident on site, and his
son, Washington Roebling, suffered a crippling attack of decompression
sickness (caisson disease) after taking over as chief engineer. Confined to
his apartment in Columbia Heights (Brooklyn), Roebling continued to
direct operations with the help of his wife, Emily Warren Roebling,
observing with field glasses and sending messages to the site with her
assistance. A compressed-air blast that wrecked a pneumatic caisson
slowed the work, as did a severe fire that smoldered for weeks in another
caisson, a cable that parted from its anchorage on the Manhattan side and
crashed into the river, and the fraud perpetrated by a steel-wire contractor
that necessitated the replacement of tons of cable. At least 20 workers were
killed during construction, and many more suffered decompression
sickness.

Brooklyn Bridge, 1898

The Brooklyn Bridge’s 486-metre (1,595-foot) main span was the longest in
the world until the completion of the Firth of Forth cantilever bridge
in Scotland in 1890. The towers are built of limestone, granite, and cement.
Its deck, supported by four cables, carries both automobile and pedestrian
traffic. A distinctive feature is the broad promenade above the roadway,
which John Roebling accurately predicted “in a crowded commercial city
will be of incalculable value.”

Brooklyn Bridge
Upon its completion, Emily rode the first carriage across from the Brooklyn
side, carrying a rooster as a symbol of victory. The bridge’s opening day,
May 24, 1883, was marked by much celebration and was attended by U.S.
Pres. Chester A. Arthur. The building of it came to represent a landmark in
technological achievement for a generation. Its strength and grace inspired
poets, notably Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, and Marianne Moore, and a
legion of photographers and painters, including Joseph Stella, John
Marin, Berenice Abbott, and Alfred Eisenstaedt.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised an

Emily Warren Roebling

American socialite, builder, and businesswoman
Print Cite Share Feedback
Listen to article4 minutes

Roebling, Emily Warren

Born: September 23, 1843 New York (Birthday in 5 days)
Died: February 28, 1903 (aged 59) Trenton New Jersey
Notable Family Members: spouse Washington Augustus Roebling
Emily Warren Roebling, (born September 23, 1843, Cold Spring, New
York, U.S.—died February 28, 1903, Trenton, New Jersey), American
socialite, builder, and businesswoman who was largely responsible for
guiding construction of the Brooklyn Bridge (1869–83) throughout the
debilitating illness of its chief engineer, her husband, Washington Augustus
Roebling; he had taken charge of the project after the death of
the bridge’s principal designer, his father, John Augustus Roebling.

Emily Warren was born in upstate New York to a socially prominent family
that traced its roots to the Mayflower. Her father, Sylvanus Warren, was a
state assemblyman and town supervisor, and an older brother, Gouverneur
K. Warren, was an 1850 graduate of the United States Military
Academy at West Point, New York, who became a corps commander in the
Union army during the American Civil War. Emily was educated at a
convent school in Washington, D.C. Late in the war she met Washington
Roebling, at that time an engineering officer on her brother’s staff, and the
two were married in 1865. One child, John Augustus Roebling II (1867–
1932), was born of their union.

In 1867–68 Emily accompanied her husband to Europe, where he went on

his father’s orders to study the latest techniques of constructing
foundations underwater by using sealed and pressurized caissons. In 1869,
following the death of John Augustus from a freak accident, Washington
assumed direction of the Brooklyn Bridge project, the longest-
span suspension bridge in the world at that time and the first to be built
with steel cables. As a result of prolonged exposure to pressurized
conditions in the caissons at the bottom of the East River, Washington
suffered severe attacks of decompression sickness. From 1872 he was
essentially an invalid. Emily cared for him in their home in Trenton, New
Jersey (where the Roebling family’s steel cable factory was located), and in
a residence in Brooklyn Heights (from which Washington could observe the
bridge work through a telescope). Emily served as
Washington’s liaison with the engineering team, and over time she
displayed such proficiency in the issues of construction, materials, and
cable fabrication that some observers concluded she had assumed the
duties of chief engineer. In addition, she served as spokeswoman and
advocate for her husband, reassuring officials that he was capable of
managing the project. Just before the grand opening of the bridge in May
1883, she rode the first carriage across from the Brooklyn side, carrying a
rooster as a symbol of victory. In a stirring dedication speech on opening
day, the philanthropist, political reformer, and rival steelmaker Abram S.
Hewitt declared that the new bridge would “ever be coupled” with the
thought of Emily Warren Roebling.
After the building of the bridge, Emily passed the years 1884–88 in Troy,
New York, while her son attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and she
then supervised the construction of a new family mansion in Trenton,
where her husband returned to the family business and pursued other
interests as his health permitted. Emily thereafter became active in various
social and philanthropic organizations, including the Daughters of the
American Revolution. In 1899 she received a certificate in business
law from the Woman’s Law Class at New York University (which at that
time did not admit women into its law school). She traveled and lectured
widely until her death.