One of the plots of the second season Gilded Ageor Golden age, the hit HBO series about the rise of New York City in the final decades of the 19th century, revolves around the construction and opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. Fictional tycoon George Russell is part of a consortium responsible for building the largest suspension bridge to date. A miracle of human progress designed to unite Manhattan with Brooklyn, which remained an independent city until 1898. Larry, George’s son, is tasked with keeping the company running smoothly in its final stages. When he walks into the offices where the technicians work, he is surprised that chief engineer Washington Roebling is always absent. They tell him that he is at work, but he is not convinced by the excuses. He soon realizes that the person who is almost always nearby and directly supervises the work of the engineers is a woman, and that this is his wife, Emily Warren Roebling.

In the chapter Golden age Airing this Monday, the seventh day of season two, the bridge is unveiled in grand style and the entire city is dedicated to the event. A reception is being held in one of the city’s patrician houses, attended by the President of the United States, Chester Arthur, and the leading forces of the city. In front of a distinguished audience, Russell Jr. does not hesitate to ask for a toast to Emily and reveal the secret of his participation in the project.

Descendant of the Mayflower

This is the trademark of the house: Julian Fellowes, creator Golden age and before that Downton Abbey – from which he almost mimetically inherits an affectionate tone and a somewhat naive and idealized description of the cordial relations between upper and lower, servants and masters – he usually skillfully uses real events to weave them into his works. In this case, the story of Emily Warren Roebling seems quite plausible. This tribute follows a recent and growing trend to make visible those important women who have been erased throughout history.

Emily was born in 1843 in Cold Spring, upstate New York, the second to last of twelve children. His family boasted that they were descended directly from the pioneers who arrived in North America aboard the Mayflower. Although they tried to dissuade her from studying, her father, a state congressman, allowed—and financed—her to study science at the Visiting College in Washington, the oldest and most prestigious of the former Thirteen Colonies.

Emily’s brother, Governor C. Warren, served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He even participated in the Battle of Gettysburg. In 1864, as the conflict was drawing to a close, his sister visited him at the camp of the Fifth Army Corps, of which he was commander. There, Emily sympathized with a young officer named Washington Roebling, the son of an outstanding engineer of German origin, John August Roebling, already famous for his suspension bridges.

“She … is an excellent conversationalist, which is very good, especially considering how stupid I am,” Washington joked in a letter sent to his sister in 1865. After several months of correspondence, Washington and Emily met. They merried. the same year.

Roebling tragedy

Between 1867 and 1868, on a delayed honeymoon of sorts, Washington and Emily toured Europe. It wasn’t exactly a pleasure trip though. John Augustus asked his son to study the latest techniques for constructing underwater foundations using pressure-sealed caissons. During this trip, Emily gave birth to her only son, John Roebling II, in Mühlhausen, Germany, the city where, oddly enough, her father-in-law was born.

Having just opened his latest work, the Cincinnati Suspension Bridge, which was then the longest span in the world, John Augustus Roebling had just received the most ambitious commission of his career: the construction of a new structure that would connect the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan. . It will be the longest suspension bridge built to date and the first to be suspended by steel cables.

But in June 1869, while conducting preparatory classes, an accident occurred with John Augustus. The ferry rested its foot on the pier piling. Despite the amputation of several fingers, he contracted tetanus and died a month later. His son Washington, then 32, became the project’s chief engineer.

But the failures for the Roeblings did not end there. Working on the foundation caissons, exposed to water pressure deep in the East River, was very dangerous. Unaware of the danger, both Washington and his workers began to experience decompression syndrome. As a result, the engineer found himself in a state of semi-invalidity. He not only had difficulty moving, but also could not tolerate light and loud noises. I could barely leave the house.

shadow engineer

Forced to watch the bridge’s work from the window of his Brooklyn Heights home, his wife Emily had to not only care for it, but also take the reins of the project. This “excellent conversationalist” also had excellent numeracy. Ever since they got married, Emily has been interested in engineering, and now she will have the opportunity to show how much she has learned. Outwardly, to protect her husband’s position and reputation, Emily wanted her job to be reduced to that of a simple courier between him and his engineers. But to those who closely observed his work, it was clear that he was much more than that. Emily spent many hours studying cables, cable tension, calculations and material strengths to be able to complete her job with full assurance. He retained the books, administration and representation. He visited construction sites every day and attended board meetings. In short, he was in charge of the project.

Emily tried to keep her work a secret while it lasted, fearing that her husband might lose his bridge contract if it was discovered that his wife was running it. But behind closed doors, he vigorously defended his views and his work with Washington.

When the work opened on May 24, 1883, Emily’s direction was no secret. That day she rode in the first car to cross the bridge, accompanied by President Arthur and carrying a rooster as a symbol of victory.

Pioneer Woman

Emotional speech by Larry Russell Golden age Take inspiration from Democratic Congressman Abram Hewitt’s inauguration speech. Philanthropist, founder of Cooper Union, father Hewitt, a New York City subway spokesman and business rival of the Roeblings, honored Emily on the big day. She said the bridge was “an enduring monument to women’s selfless devotion and intellectual ability,” the fruit of a higher education that “women have been deprived of for too long.”

After devoting the next few years to her family—an ailing husband and a son with a heart condition—Emily moved to Trenton, New Jersey, where the Roeblings owned a wire rope factory. She led an active social life on both banks of the Hudson, very devoted to the nascent women’s clubs and the fight for women’s rights. After traveling alone to Europe in 1896, where she was received by Queen Victoria and attended the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in St. Petersburg, she traveled throughout the United States giving lectures. In 1899, at the age of 56, she completed a women’s law course at New York University. In her graduation essay, read publicly at the ceremony, Emily advocated for women’s suffrage and criticized married women’s lack of property rights.

In February 1903, nearly twenty years after the opening of the bridge she helped build and which is still one of the symbols of New York, Emily Warren Roebling died of stomach cancer. In 2018, the city renamed a Brooklyn street in his honor.