The Great Bridge

by David McCullough

  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 ma
nagement 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.

  Martin, C. C., Report of the Chief Engineer and Superintendent of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, June 1, 1884. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1884.

  Report of the Executive Committee of the New York Bridge Company, June 1, 1872. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1872.

  Report of the Officers of the New York Bridge Company to the Board of Directors, February, 1875. Eagle Print, Brooklyn, 1875.

  Reports of Assistant Engineers and Master Mechanic, 1875-1876.

  Roebling, John A., Report of John A. Roebling, C.E., to the President and Directors of the New York Bridge Company, on the Proposed East River Bridge. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1870.

  Roebling, Washington A., Communication from Chief Engineer W. A. Roebling, In Regard to the Method of Steam Transit Over the East River Bridge. March 4, 1878.

  _____ First Annual Report of the Chief Engineer of The East River Bridge. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1870.

  _____ Pneumatic Tower Foundations of the East River Suspension Bridge. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1872.

  _____ Report of the Chief Engineer to the Board of Directors of the New York Bridge Company, June 5, 1871. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1871.

  _____ Report of the Chief Engineer of the East River Bridge on Prices of Materials and Estimated Cost of the Structure. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, June 28, 1872.

  _____ Report of the Chief Engineer of the New York Bridge Company, 1874. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1874.

  _____ Report of the Chief Engineer of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, January 1, 1877. Eagle Print, Brooklyn, 1877.

  _____ Report of the Chief Engineer on the Strength of the Cables and Suspended Superstructure of the Bridge, Made to the Board of Trustees, January 9, 1882.

  _____ Report of the Chief Engineer on the Tests of the Samples of Wire, 1876.

  _____ Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, June 1, 1872. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1872.

  Smith, Andrew H., M.D., The Effects of High Atmospheric Pressure, Including the Caisson Disease. Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, Brooklyn, 1873.

  Specifications for Anchor Plates, New York Anchorage, East River Bridge, 1875.

  Specifications for Corners, Facing and Archstone, of Granite, Required for the New York Anchorage, East River Bridge, 1875.

  Specifications for Cut Face-stone, Backing and Archstone of Limestone, Required for the New York Anchorage, East River Bridge, 1875.

  Specifications for Cut Face-stone and Backing, Limestone and Granite, Required for the New York Anchorage, East River Bridge, 1875.

  Specifications for Granite Cut Stone, Required for the Parapets at the roadway, Brooklyn and New York Towers, East River Bridge, 1876.

  Specifications for Granite Face-stone and Archstone, Required for the New York Tower, East River Bridge, April, 1875.

  Specifications for Iron Anchor Bars, New York Anchorage, East River Bridge, April, 1875.

  Specifications for Saddles and Saddle-Plates for the Brooklyn and New York Towers, East River Bridge, 1874.

  Specifications for Steel Cable Wire, for the East River Suspension Bridge—1876.

  Specifications for Wire Ropes for the East River Bridge.

  Farrington, E. F., Concise Description of the East River Bridge, with Full Details of the Construction. (Pamphlet) C. D. Wynkoop, New York, 1881. Republished in 1969 by Boro Book Store, Brooklyn.

  Green, S. W., A Complete History of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge from its Conception in 1866 to its Completion in 1883, with Sketches of the Lives of J. A. Roebling, W. A. Roebling, and H. C. Murphy. (Pamphlet) New York, 1883.

  An Illustrated Description of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. (Pamphlet) Published by John A. Roebling’s Sons, Trenton, no date.

  New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, 1867-1884. Brooklyn, 1885. (This thick invaluable volume contains the only records kept of the meetings of the directors—later the trustees—of the Bridge Company, the meetings of the Executive Committee, lists of the stockholders at various periods during the construction of the bridge, lists of real estate purchased, plus all other reports, letters, etc., emanating from the Bridge Company during the time from May 1867 to June 1884.)

  Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. Brooklyn, 1883.

  Report of the Board of Consulting Engineers to the Directors of the New York Bridge Company. The Standard Press Print, Brooklyn, 1869.

  Schuyler, Montgomery, “The Bridge as a Monument.” Harper’s Weekly, May 24, 1883. Also included in Lewis Mumford’s Roots of Contemporary American Architecture, Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York, 1952; paperback edition, Grove Press, New York, 1959.

  Testimony in the Miller Suit to Remove the East River Bridge. Albany, 1879.

  Trachtenberg, Alan, Brooklyn Bridge; Fact and Symbol. (An excellent analysis of the bridge as a cultural symbol in America.) Oxford University Press, New York, 1965.

  Works Relating to John A. and Washington A. Roebling

  There is no first-rate biography of either John A. or Washington A. Roebling. The closest thing to it and the one reliable source of family history is The Roeblings; A Century of Engineers, Bridgebuilders and Industrialists by Hamilton Schuyler, Princeton University Press, 1931. Other works consulted were these:

  Farrington, E. F., A Full and Complete Description of the Covington and Cincinnati Suspension Bridge with Dimensions and Details of Construction. Cincinnati, 1867.

  John A. Roebling. An Account of the Ceremonies at the Unveiling of a Monument to His Memory; Address by H. Estabrook. Roebling Press, Trenton, 1908.

  Roebling, John A., Diary of My Journey from Muehlhausen in Thuringia via Bremen to the United States of North America in the Year 1831, trans. by Edward Underwood. Roebling Press, Trenton, 1931.

  _____ Final Report of John A. Roebling, Civil Engineer, to the President and Directors of the Niagara Falls Suspension and Niagara Falls International Bridge Companies. Rochester, N. Y., 1855

  _____ “The Great Central Railroad from Philadelphia to St. Louis.” American Railroad Journal, Special Edition, 1847.

  _____ “Letters to Ferdinand Baehr, 1831.” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, June 1935.

  _____ Long and Short Span Railway Bridges. (Includes an introduction by Washington Roebling.) D. Van Nostrand, New York, 1869.

  _____ Report to the President and Board of Directors of the Covington and Cincinnati Bridge Company. T
renton, 1867.

  Roebling, Washington A., Early History of Saxonburg. Trenton, 1924.

  Steinman, D. B., The Builders of the Bridge. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1945. (The author was a famous bridgebuilder himself and was long considered the authority on John A. Roebling. His book, however, was based on superficial research and contains many inaccuracies.)

  Vogel, Robert M., Roebling’s Delaware and Hudson Canal Aqueducts. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C., 1971.

  Books on Bridges and Bridgebuilders

  Dorsey, Florence L., Road to the Sea. Rinehart & Company, New York, 1947.

  Gies, Joseph, Bridges and Men. Doubleday and Company, Garden City, N. Y., 1963.

  Gilbert, Ralph W., Jr., and Billington, David P., “The Eads Bridge and Nineteenth-Century River Politics.” Paper read at the First National Conference on Civil Engineering: History, Heritage and the Humanities, Princeton University, 1970.

  Jacobs, David, and Neville, Anthony E., Bridges, Canals and Tunnels. American Heritage Publishing Company, New York, 1968.

  Jakkula, A. A., A History of Suspension Bridges in Bibliographical Form. Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, College Station, Texas, 1941.

  Kirby, Richard Shelton, and Laurson, Philip Gustave, The Early Years of Modern Civil Engineering. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1932.