Fig. 7: Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Tower, May 2008. More than two million pedestrians and bicyclists annually cross the Brooklyn Bridge, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called “a universal symbol of New York.” C. W. Zink
“You can’t desert your job; you can’t slink out of the work that life lays on you.” - Washington A. Roebling
T e Brooklyn Bridge opened to world acclaim on May 24, 1883, and Emily was one of the fi rst to ride across that day in a carriage, while Washington watched from his room in Brooklyn Heights (Fig. 6 & 7).
John Roebling, “who conceived the project and formulated the plan for the Bridge,” and to Washington Roebling, “who inheriting his father’s genius, and more than his father’s knowledge and skill, directed this great work from conception to completion…braved death and sacrifi ced his health.” Recognizing Emily Warren Roebling’s contributions, Hewitt proclaimed the bridge “an everlasting monument to the self- sacrifi cing devotion of woman, and for her capacity for that higher education from which she has too long been disbarred.” Emily died in 1903 but Washington remarkably kept
Fig. 6: Designed by John A. Roebling and built by Washington A. Roebling with help from Emily Warren Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge opened to acclaim in 1883 as the Eight Wonder of The World. Library of Congress
At the opening ceremony, Abram Hewitt, a son in law of Peter Cooper and future mayor of New York, paid homage to
living. In 1921, when he assumed the presidency of the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company at the age of 84, he told a reporter, “It’s my job to carry the responsibility. And you can’t desert your job; you can’t slink out of life or out of the work that life lays on you. I haven’t any business plans but I’ve lived through hard times before and I can do it again.” Under Washington’s guidance, the Roebling Company built 18 in. cables on the Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River, and the bridge opened in 1924 when he was 87. As his health deteriorated two years later, he told a visitor “that about all of his physique which remained to serve him was his brain… and he was grateful for this much.” Washington Roebling died at the age of 89 on July 21, 1926. T ese and many other stories are chronicled in T e Roebling Legacy (
www.roeblinglegacy.com). y
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WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE
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