Woman of the Week: Emily Warren Roebling

Emily Warren Roebling is best known for her contribution to and completion of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Early Life

Emily Warren was born on September 23, 1843 in Cold Spring, New York. She was the eleventh of twelve children born to Pheobe Lickley and Sylvanus Warren. As a girl, Emily attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, D.C.

Despite a 13-year difference in age, Emily enjoyed a close relationship with her brother, Gouverneur K. Warren, a civil engineer who became a prominent general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1864, Emily went to visit her brother, then a commander of the Fifth Army Corp., where he was stationed. While visiting Gouverneur, Emily met Washington Roebling, the son of Brooklyn Bridge designer John A. Roebling.

Emily Warren later married Washington Roebling in 1865.

Tragedy

For their honeymoon, the Roeblings went to Europe to study the use of caissons for the Brooklyn Bridge project. When they arrived back in the States, they learned that Washington's father had died of tetanus. Washington Roebling then took over the construction of the bridge.

In 1872, Washington Roebling was paralyzed from decompression sickness and became bedridden. Because Washington couldn't continue with the construction, Emily took notes on the work he said remained. She also began to study civil engineering, including mathematics, strength of materials, catenary curves, and cable construction.

ASCE &The Brooklyn Bridge

Each day, Emily Roebling conveyed her husband's instructions to the bridge workers and answered their questions. She dealt with all aspects of bridge building, including keeping records, managing mail, and representing her husband at social events. Eventually, Roebling became so good at managing the construction that many suspected that she was the intelligence behind the bridge.

In 1882, Washington Roebling's position as chief engineer was in jeopardy because of his extended illness. In defense of her husband, Emily Roebling composed a statement and delivered it to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). She was the first woman to address the organization; fortunately, her remarks were well-received.

The Roeblings continued to lead the project.

After the Bridge

When the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, Abram Hewitt – a Roebling competitor – said "The name Emily Warren Roebling will…be inseparably associated with all that is admirable in human nature and all that is wonderful in the constructive world of art". He went on call describe the bridge as "an everlasting monument to the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman and of her capacity for that higher education from which she has been too long disbarred."

After the Brooklyn project, the Roebling family moved to Troy, New York. They lived there from 1884-88, as their son attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). After graduation, the Roeblings moved to Trenton, New Jersey. There, Emily Roebling participated in social organizations such as the Relief Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Hugenot Society. She was also on the board of Lady Managers for New Jersey.

Emily Roebling also continued her education, later receiving a law degree from New York University. She published "The Journal of Reverend Silas Constant" in 1903, and remained socially and mentally active until her death on February 28, 1903.

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Warren_Roebling

https://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/mmat_03/mmat_03_00257.html

https://www.asce.org/templates/person-bio-detail.aspx?id=11203