The Brooklyn Bridge
On their return from their European studies, Emily and Washington were greeted with a turn of fate; Washington's father died of tetanus, and Washington immediately took charge of the Brooklyn Bridge's construction. As he immersed himself in the project, Washington developed caisson disease, which affected him so badly that he became bed-ridden. It was at this point that Emily stepped in as the “first woman field engineer” and saw out the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge.
As the only person to visit her husband during his sickness, Emily was to relay information from Washington to his assistants and report the progress of work on the bridge. She developed an extensive knowledge of strength of materials, stress analysis, cable construction, and calculating catenary curves through Washington's teachings. Emily's knowledge was complemented by her prior interest in and study of the bridge's construction upon her husband's appointment to Chief Engineer. For the next fourteen years, Emily's dedication to the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge was unyielding. She took over much of the chief engineer's duties, including day-to-day supervision and project management. Emily and her husband jointly planned the bridge's continued construction. She dealt with politicians, competing engineers, and all those associated with the work on the bridge to the point where people believed she was behind the bridge's design.
In 1882, Washington's title of chief engineer was in jeopardy due to his sickness. In order to allow him to retain his title, Emily went to gatherings of engineers and politicians to defend her husband. To the Roeblings' relief, the politicians responded well to Emily's speeches and Washington was permitted to remain Chief Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge.
With Washington still Chief Engineer, the Brooklyn Bridge was finally completed in 1883. In advance of the official opening, carrying a rooster as a sign of victory, Emily Roebling was the first to cross the bridge by carriage. At the opening ceremony, Emily was honored in a speech by Abram Stevens Hewitt who said at the bridge was
...an everlasting monument to the sacrificing devotion of a woman and of her capacity for that higher education from which she has been too long disbarred.Today the Brooklyn Bridge holds a plaque dedicated to the memory of Emily, her husband, and her father-in-law.
Read more about this topic: Emily Warren Roebling
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“If the British prose style is Churchillian, America is the tobacco auctioneer, the barker; Runyon, Lardner, W.W., the traveling salesman who can sell the world the Brooklyn Bridge every day, can put anything over on you and convince you that tomatoes grow at the South Pole.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
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