Late great engineers: Brooklyn Bridge builder Washington Roebling

According to the author of The Great Bridge David McCullough, there had been talk of spanning New York’s East River for ‘as long as anyone can remember’. The reason for the project never getting further than ‘just talk’ was because the stretch of water in question contained the busiest shipping lanes in the world, playing host to the largest vessels ever built. Any bridge connecting the two cities (as they were then) of New York and Brooklyn would need to be high enough to allow the masts of great ships to pass beneath. Not only would such an enterprise need to be the longest suspension bridge ever built, it would also have to withstand the Atlantic gales.

As with so many of the great 19th century landmarks, the story of the Brooklyn Bridge (that wasn’t even named formally as such until 1915) spanned the generations. Reduced to the simplest of narratives, it was designed by the immigrant Prussian civil engineer John A Roebling and seen through the construction phase by his son Washington until its official opening on 24 May 1883. But the story is in reality much more complex, and the role played by Washington’s wife Emily Warren Roebling in ensuring the completion of the 14-year endeavour – often directing operations from her husband’s sickbed – is frequently underestimated. In fact, such was her importance to the delivery of the project that Emily was the first person to cross this designated National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, closely followed by the great and the good of both cities, as well as assorted livestock.