David McCullough Library E-book Box Set
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Robert Roosevelt’s letter to Mayor Grace: New York Herald, June 14, 1882.
HCM talks to the press: New York Sun, June 16, 1882.
“His plans and diagrams are all about him”: Ibid.
Sellers of Edge Moor ridiculed: Eagle, New York Sun, New York Herald, June 27, 1882.
Meeting of the trustees, June 26, 1882: New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 469-470.
Slocum’s remarks: Eagle, New York Sun, June 27, 1882.
“unsubstantial fabric of a dream”: Quoted in Syrett, The City of Brooklyn, p. 153.
The best roundup of rumors concerning the health and mental decline of WAR: New York Sun, July 31, 1882.
WAR’s letter of explanation: New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 473—474.
WAR claims he is powerless to push Sellers: WAR to HCM, July 19, 1882, RPI; also New York Sun, August 17, 1882.
“Newport has never looked more attractive”: Eagle, July 3, 1882.
WAR’s “cottage” at Newport: The house still stands; it is now a Catholic convalescent home and is located, ironically, beside the Newport end of the gigantic new suspension bridge over Narragansett Bay.
WAR will not “dance attendance on the Trustees”: Draft of a long letter to Comptroller Campbell, undated. RPI. It is not known whether the letter was sent.
WAR will not be “dragged into the board and put on exhibition”: Draft of a letter to the New York Sun, probably written in July 1882; probably never sent. RPI.
“no less than one hundred and twenty politicians”: Ibid.
“This is the same General Slocum”: Ibid.
Kingsley overpaid by $175,000: Ibid.
“I have always had bitter enemies in the Board”: Draft of letter, WAR to Comptroller Campbell, undated. RPI.
“I have over and over again been interviewed”: Ibid.
Low reported to be out of town briefly: New York Herald, August 3, 1882.
“Mr. Roebling, I am going to remove you because it pleases me”: WAR, undated notes, written sometime in late August 1882. RPI.
Death of G. K. Warren and decision of the military court: Taylor, Gouverneur Kemble Warren.
“Please make it convenient to be present”: Eagle, August 17, 1882.
Trustees’ meeting of August 22: Eagle, New York Sun, New York Star, New York Evening Post, New York World, New York Herald, New York Tribune, August 23, 1882.
Low’s comments on WAR at the meeting of the trustees, August 22, 1882: Eagle, same date; New York World, New York Sun, New York Star, New York Herald, August 23.
“WHEREAS, The Chief Engineer of this Bridge”: New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 477—478.
Editorial comments in New York papers: All for issues of August 23, 1882.
Iron Age comment: Issue of August 31, 1882; Newport Daily News: August 24, 1883; Trenton Daily State Gazette and the Eagle: August 23, 1882.
“I take the liberty of writing to express to you my heartfelt gratitude”: EWR to Ludwig Semler, undated. RPI.
“Nobody should be convicted before he is tried”: Eagle, September 5, 1882.
WAR would as soon “be out of the bridge” if Kingsley is to decide his fate: Letter to William Paine, September 10, 1882. RPI.
Semler reports on visit to WAR: Eagle, September 7, 1882.
Visit of the World reporter to Newport: Described by EWR in her letter to William Marshall, undated. RPI.
Meeting of the trustees, September 11, 1882: The entire session was heavily reported by all of the following, from which this account has been drawn, New York Evening Post, New York Sun, New York Times, New York Star, New York Herald, New York World, New York Tribune, Brooklyn Union and Argus, and the Eagle, all for September 12, 1882; also New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 478-481.
Low tells reporters he is pleased with outcome: Eagle, September 12, 1882.
“I actually believe that all that ails him”: Ibid.
23 And Yet the Bridge Is Beautiful
“And yet the bridge is beautiful in itself”: Scientific American, September 22, 1883.
The Times on Mrs. Vanderbilt’s party: March 27, 1883.
The World on the “Bridge Frauds”: The first of a long series of articles appeared on September 18, 1882, under a headline, “THE BRIDGE RING, OVERWHELMING PROOFS OF SYSTEMATIC JOBBERY AND OFFICIAL CORRUPTION.”
Kinsella interview: World, September 19, 1882.
The seating of the Tammany delegates: The best account of the Syracuse convention is in Nevins, Grover Cleveland; A Study in Courage.
The Times pinpoints Slocum’s association with the bridge as the chief cause of his failure to get the nomination: September 22, 1882.
Mayors Low and Grace appoint accountants to examine the Bridge Company’s books: “Report of the Committee Appointed by the Board of Trustees,” New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, 1867-1884, pp. 1-6.
Report of the accountants: Ibid., pp. 7—64.
The bridge as a memorial to HCM: Special meeting of the trustees, December 2, 1882, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 483-484.
“What a relief it will be”: Barnard, “The Brooklyn Bridge.”
Scientific American editor describes the bridge as seen from the river: Issue of September 22, 1883.
United States Illuminating Company gets contract for arc lamps: Meeting of the Executive Committee, February 12, 1883, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 745—747; “Report of the Committee on Lighting the Bridge, April 9, 1883,” Proceedings, pp. 161-164.
“The scene suggested the subterranean laboratory of a magician”: Quoted in Frederick L. Collins, Consolidated Gas Company of New York, 1934, pp. 268-270.
EWR explains how superstructure should be made: Times, May 23, 1883.
EWR’s ride over the bridge: Only passing mention of the event was made in the papers and then weeks after it happened (Times, May 23, 1883).
The fact that the rooster went along turns up only in the Trenton papers many years later, when the bird, stuffed and mounted, was a conversation piece in the Roebling home.
The interview with the Union reporter appeared May 16, 1883.
Full accounts of the preparations for “The People’s Day” appeared in just about every paper, off and on, throughout the preceding week.
The World now favors the bridge: Swanberg, Pulitzer, p. 74.
WAR’s concern about fireworks display: Letter to Stranahan, dated May 5, 1883. RPI.
Hewitt writes for wages of bridge workers, etc.: May 3, 1883, RPI; WAR’s answer to Hewitt, RPI.
“I wish you would make one of my party of ladies”: EWR to Mrs. William G. Wilson, May 17, 1883. New York Historical Society.
Hewitt letter of May 18, 1883: RPI.
24 The People’s Day
Every newspaper on both sides of the East River went to great lengths to describe the opening of the Great Bridge. The sources used most here were the Eagle, the Union, New York Times, Sun, World, and Tribune, all for May 25, 1883.
Estimates on crowds pouring into New York: Times.
“One moment they were clambering clumsily”: Sun.
“It was as if the forest of masts had blossomed”: Tribune.
“The women in the crowd raised their hands”: Sun.
Arthur trods the bridge “with an elastic step”: Sun.
Arthur “an Apollo in form”: Ibid.
Large portions of the Opening Day addresses were carried in the papers of May 25, but the complete text is contained in a commemorative book, Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, published by the Bridge Company.
WAR’s day and the reception at 110 Columbia Heights were also covered in most newspaper accounts of the day’s events. See in particular the Tribune and the Sun.
“As the sun went down the scene from the bridge was beautiful”: Sun.
“Why I thought Brooklyn had one hotel”: Ibid.
The most interesting account of the first crowds to cross the b
ridge was provided by the Times.
Epilogue
Attendance figures for first three days: New York Tribune, May 26, 28, 1883.
The Memorial Day tragedy: New York Times and Tribune, June 1, 1883.
“That was my first view of a great calamity”: Josephson, Al Smith, Hero of the Cities, p. 24.
Martin’s force: Martin, Report of the Chief Engineer and Superintendent of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, June 1, 1884. LER.
Barnum’s elephants: Times, May 17, 1884.
Brodie: Times, July 23, 24, 1886; Botkin, New York City Folklore, pp. 218-223.
Other jumpers: “This Alluring Roadway,” The New Yorker, May 17, 1952.
Montgomery Schuyler’s article appeared in Harper’s Weekly, the issue of May 26, 1883; also included in Mumford, Roots of American Architecture, pp. 159—168.
James: See his American Scene; for the best analysis of how he and other American intellectuals and artists responded to the bridge, see Trachtenberg, Brooklyn Bridge; Fact and Symbol, pp. 129-165.
“The stone plays against the steel” plus other Mumford comments on the bridge: Sticks and Stones, pp. 114-117; The Brown Decades, pp. 96-106.
“not so much linking places as leaving them”: Scully, Modern Architecture, p. 17.
The prominent American architect is Philip Johnson.
All that was needed was a new coat of paint: “This Alluring Roadway,” The New Yorker, May 17, 1952.
Roebling’s pleasure over Low’s defeat: WAR to JAR II, November 3-6, 1903. RUL.
“So far as I know not a dollar was stolen”: WAR to James Rusling, January 23, 1916. RUL.
Hildenbrand’s post-Brooklyn career: ASCE, Transactions, Vol. 77, 1914.
“Soon I will be the last leaf on the tree”: WAR to JAR II, April 26, 1909. RUL.
EWR at the coronation of Tsar Nicholas: WAR to JAR II, May 24, 1896. RUL.
WAR blocks sale to U.S. Steel: Ibid., p. 352.
“He was now adrift”: WAR in a private memorandum dated March 16, 1922. RUL.
The founding of Roebling, New Jersey: Schuyler, The Roeblings, pp. 359-361, 367-373.
Size of WAR’s estate: Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 278.
“…these relationships are those of the heart”: WAR to JAR II, March 21, 1908. RUL.
WAR becomes “almost jovial”: Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 269.
“And yet people say how well you look”: WAR to JAR II, October 19, 1893. RUL.
Times letter: RUL.
“It means 100,000 spies”: WAR to JAR II, September 15, 1913. RUL.
“It has come to this pass”: WAR to JAR II, October 9, 1914. RUL.
“War in the kitchen”: WAR to JAR II, August 11, 1916. RUL.
WAR’s “oddities”: Schuyler, The Roeblings, pp. 263, 274.
“a nice, courteous old gentleman”: Author’s interview with W. H. Pearson, formerly of Trenton.
WAR known as a soft touch: Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 262.
“Billy Sunday”: Ibid., p. 274.
“I claim a small part of this”: WAR to JAR II, June 10, 1922. RUL.
“It’s my job to carry the responsibility”: New York World interview quoted in the Trenton Times, June 13, 1921.
“Think not that I am improving”: WAR to Mrs. JAR II, May 14, 1926. RUL.
“As far as we are concerned, it will last forever”: Jack Schiff, city engineer in charge of all East River bridges, in an interview with the author, March 16, 1971.
Bibliography
Manuscript Sources
There are two collections of Roebling manuscript papers: the Roebling Collections in the Library of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, and in the Special Collections of the Library of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Both are of vast scope and value and have been almost totally ignored by all but two or three scholars.
The latter collection contains numerous notebooks, ledgers, diaries, and other documents belonging to John A. Roebling, in addition to his philosophical papers, patents, numerous drawings, sketches, and the early papers and records of John A. Roebling’s Sons. But the most important part of the collection, so far as the telling of this story, is the file of Washington Roebling’s correspondence. The letters cover a span of nearly seventy years and include, for example, all of his war letters to Emily, plus those written to his son in the years after the completion of the bridge. This correspondence has been carefully arranged by the late Clarence E. Case, a prominent New Jersey attorney and friend of the Roebling family. Like everything else in the collection the letters are readily accessible. Interested scholars ought to be warned, however, that in editing the letters for a typed transcription, Mr. Case cut a great deal that he considered of too personal or too technical a nature.
The RPI collection is the larger of the two and contains far more concerning the Brooklyn Bridge. It includes hundreds of letters, notebooks, reports, cashbooks, and personal memorandums relating to the careers of both John A. and Washington Roebling. It includes drawings of all of John A. Roebling’s bridges, his various preparatory schemes for the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge, numerous plans and blueprints of the bridge, photographs, and his private library. It includes the notes he kept during the spiritualist séances of 1867, Washington Roebling’s letters from Europe that same year, and two large scrapbooks kept by Emily Roebling from April 1876 to October 1882. Most important of all, it includes the letter books and private notes kept by Washington and Emily Roebling during the years the bridge was being built. Recently the entire collection was classified and catalogued for the first time by Robert M. Vogel of the Smithsonian Institution, with a grant from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Newspapers, Magazines, and Technical Journals
Use was made of numerous newspapers, magazines, and technical journals. Many of these were in the form of clippings included in the scrapbooks kept by Emily Roebling; the rest were consulted in various libraries. Of the papers consulted the most valuable by far was the Brooklyn Eagle.
Newspapers: Boston Post, Brooklyn Argus, Brooklyn Eagle, Brooklyn Leader, Brooklyn Union, Brooklyn Union and Argus, Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Cold Spring Recorder, Coney Island Sun, Long Island Star, New York Commercial Advertiser, New York Daily Graphic, New York Daily Witness, New York Evening Express, New York Evening Mail, New York Evening Post, New York Evening Telegram, New York Herald, New York Independent, New York Mail and Express, New York Mercury, New York Star, New York Sun, New York Times, New York Tribune, New York World, Newport Daily News, Niagara Falls Gazette, Pittsburgh Gazette, Trenton Daily State Gazette, Troy Record.
Magazines and technical journals: American Heritage, American Railroad Journal, Appletons Journal, Architects and Mechanics’ Journal, Beecher’s Magazine, Brooklyn Monthly, Civil Engineering, Engineering (London), Engineering News, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Harper’s Weekly, The Iron Age, Journal of the Franklin Institute, Mechanics (New York), The New Yorker, Puck, The Railroad Gazette, St. Nicholas Magazine, Scientific American, Transactions (American Society of Civil Engineers), Van Nostrand’s Eclectic Engineering Magazine, Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine.
Works Relating Directly to the Brooklyn Bridge
Barnard, Charles, “The Brooklyn Bridge.” St. Nicholas Magazine, July 1883.
Barnes, A. C., The New York and Brooklyn Bridge. (Pamphlet) Brooklyn, 1883.
Brooklyn Bridge: 1883-1933. Published by the City of New York Department of Plant and Structures, 1933.
Conant, William C., “The Brooklyn Bridge.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, May 1883.
East River Bridge, Laws and Engineer’s Reports, 1868-1884. Brooklyn, 1885. (This very rare volume contains all of the following, most of which were published separately during the time the bridge was being built.)
An Act to amend an act entitled “An Act to incorporate the New York Bridge Company, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a bridge over the East River,
between the cities of New York and Brooklyn,” passed April sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and to provide for the speedy construction of said bridge. Chapter 601. Passed June 5, 1874.
An Act to establish a bridge across the East River, between the cities of Brooklyn and New York, in the State of New York, a post road. Public, No. 53. Approved by Congress March 3, 1869.
An Act to incorporate the New York Bridge Company, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a bridge over the East River, between the cities of New York and Brooklyn. Chapter 399. Passed April 16, 1867.
An Act providing that the bridge in the course of construction over the East River, between the cities of New York and Brooklyn, by the New York Bridge Company, shall be a public work of the cities of New York and Brooklyn, and for the dissolution of said Company, and the completion and management of the said bridge by the said cities. Chapter 300. Passed May 14, 1875.
Collingwood, Francis, A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge. Paper read at the third annual convention of the American Society of Civil Engineers, June 21, 1871; printed originally in ASCE Transactions; also Engineering (London), February 16 and 23, 1872.
_____ The Foundations for the Brooklyn Anchorage of the East River Bridge. Paper read before the American Society of Civil Engineers, June 10, 1874; in Transactions.
_____ Further Notes on the Caissons of the East River Bridge. Paper read at the fourth annual convention of the American Society of Civil Engineers, June 5-6, 1872; in Transactions; also Engineering (London), October 18 and 25, 1872.
_____ Notes on the Masonry of the East River Bridge. Paper read before the American Society of Civil Engineers, November 1, 1876; in Transactions.
_____ Progress of Work at the East River Bridge. Paper read before the American Society of Civil Engineers, June 17, 1879; in Transactions.
Kingsley, William C., First Annual Report of the General Superintendent of the East River Bridge. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1870.
_____ Report of the General Superintendent, New York Bridge Company. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1871.
_____ Report of the General Superintendent of the New York Bridge Company. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1872.