The Boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, in New York City, were, in those times, entirely separate communities. But, as is still the case, there existed a good-natured rivalry between them. The only means of transportation between them was the ferry that plied the East River, and many of the standing jokes of the two cities concerned these cumbersome boats.
However, in 1866 much of the humor of the situation seemed to disappear. That winter, between '66 and '67, was one of the severest ever experienced in that section. The East River was lashed by winds that made ferrying both difficult and hazardous. And finally, in a climax of cold, the river was so choked with ice that the boats could not even put out from their slips.
It was after the ferries had stopped that an enterprising reporter on a New York newspaper published the fact that people from Albany were getting into Manhattan in less time than were Brooklynites. All of Manhattan laughed and used the story as final proof of their constant contention that Brooklyn was "a little country hamlet, miles away in the trackless wastes across the river."
It was a sad day for Brooklyn; but .
. . John A. Roebling had been trying in vain to sell his idea
for a suspension bridge between the two cities. In spite of his
successes in former ventures, he was laughed at when he claimed
that he could connect Manhattan and Brooklyn with a single-span
suspension bridge, whose center span would be 1,600 feet. However,
after the winter of '66-'67 he was commissioned to start work
on the venture.
In 1883, When The Brooklyn Bridge Was Opened, Its Towers
Dominated The Entire New York Skyline. Today, They Are
Dwarfed By The Skyscrapers, The Erection And Practicability Of
Which Was Largely Made Possible By The Advent Of Wire Rope.
Colonel Roebling (extreme upper left) Supervising Construction
Of Brooklyn Bridge Towers--1872
That once again he kept his promise; that the bridge vindicated every claim he had made for it, are matters of record that need no repeating. But ironically, the bridge that remains as his monument, cost him his life. It was while he was locating the site for the Brooklyn tower that a carelessly piloted ferry boat crashed into a pier on which he was standing, and crushed his foot. He developed tetanus poisoning from the injury and died in 1869, before even the towers had been erected.
When his father died, the Colonel was appointed Chief Engineer to carry on the work that had become the greatest goal of his father's life.
Strangely, the project was to cost the Colonel, also, if not his life, at least his health. Not content with directing the work from his office, he constantly went down in the bells used in the sinking of the caissons in the building of the tower foundations.
A combination of a slight accident and
too frequent subjection to high pressures finally made him the
victim of the dread disease of divers, the bends. He was forced
to remain in bed, his body and nerves shattered.
Rather than turn over the supervision of the bridge to anyone else, however, Washington A. Roebling enacted one of the most magnificent human dramas in the annals of engineering history. Taking a room on the Brooklyn bank of the East River, from which the bridge construction was clearly visible, he lay in bed and supervised, with the aid of a telescope, every step in the building of the bridge. 1 le relayed his instructions to his foremen through his wife, and it is to her that much of the credit must go. Only because of her constant care, her remarkable patience, strength and understanding, was it possible for her husband to carry on.
At one point during the building of the bridge, the Colonel's health failed badly and he was afraid that death was near. Instead of stopping the work that tired him so and seeking to extend his life, he dictated to his wife every last detail of the finishing of the bridge. It took almost four months to complete this document, working till he collapsed exhausted, starting to work again when he awoke, to continue again until exhausted.
Fortunately, however, he lived not only
to see the Brooklyn Bridge open in 1883, but also to contribute
greatly to the success of the John A. Roebling's Sons Company,
and to the improvement of the community in which he lived. The
city of Trenton, N. J., mourned the death of a truly great man
in 1926 when, in his 88th year, Colonel Washington A. Roebling
passed away.