John Augustus Roebling 1800-1869

John Augustus Roebling was born in Mühlhausen, Thuringia (now part of Germany) on June 12, 1800. He was educated as a civil engineer and then spent his required three years working for the government on road building projects. He continued working on road building projects and exploring philosophical ideals.

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In 1831, John left for the United States with his brother Karl and  Johnan Adolphus Etzler. The three envisioned a utopia. Property was purchased in Western Pennsylvania by John and Karl in hopes of founding a German settlement. (This settlement would later become Saxonburg). John took up farming and married Johanna Herting.

In 1837 John's brother Karl died; Johanna gave birth to their first child; Washington A. Roebling; and John went back to working as a civil engineer.  He worked on river navigation and canals, and took a job surveying for railway lines through the Allegheny Mountains.

Apparently while still in Europe he had become fascinated with the development of suspension bridges. In 1840, he wrote to  Charles Ellet, Jr. offering to help him design a bridge that Ellet was building in Philadelphia.

He first began making wire rope in Saxonburg in 1841, and developed a 7-strand wire rope.

In 1844, he started work on his first suspension bridge, the Pennsylvania Canal Allegheny Aqueduct. It was completed in 1845. He continued building suspension bridges with spans of less then 200 feet.

The Niagara Falls Railway Suspension Bridge was completed in 1855 with a span of 851 feet. With this achievment the name Roebling became synonymous with major span suspension bridges.

In 1866, he completed the Cincinnati Suspension Bridge, which will be the subject of tomorrow's blog.

In 1867,  he began designing a suspension bridge that would span the East River to Brooklyn. He was able to convince New York City to build the bridge.

In 1869, while standing on a dock working on the location where the bridge would meet the Brooklyn shore, his foot was crushed by an incoming ferry. His toes had to be amputated, but Mr Roebling refused all other general medical attention. He preferred to use the "water cure," a process of continually cleaning an injury with water. The "cure" had become popular during the Civil War when so many soldiers died from complications of filth. Unfortunately, John Augustus Roebling developed and died from tetanus.

His oldest son, Washington would pick up the mantle of completing the Brooklyn Bridge and continue the family story. (coming soon on a blog near you, lol)

This is a condensed version of all I read about Mr. Roebling and the beginning of the Roebling Story. I am following up tomorrow with the story of the Cincinnati Suspension Bridge. Once again, my interest in New Jersey history and my Cincinnati background come together in a story. The other three items, I could write about in the future are "The Water Cure," Johnan Adolphus Etzler, and Saxunburg, PA.  If you are curious about any of these subjects leave a comment and it will spur me on to answer for both of us.