A military and civil engineer and second generation German immigrant, Washington Augustus Roebling who was born May 26, 1837 in Saxonburg, PA and died: July 21, 1926 in Trenton, NY is best known for overseeing the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which was designed by his father. He also served briefly as president of John A. Roebling’s Sons, Co., after its incorporation in 1876 and during his younger days, as an engineer in the Union army during the Civil War, Washington Roebling planned and supervised the construction of bridges and roads for military purposes. Later in his life, Washington became a renowned mineralogist, and his collection of rocks and minerals now belongs to the Smithsonian Institution. Roebling was a writer who published technical writings on suspension bridges and other topics, especially the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. He also authored a biography of his famous father as well as a brief history of his own birthplace of Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. With legendary determination, Roebling, confined to his house in Brooklyn Heights, directed the work on the bridge from a distance, watching progress through a telescope.He also trained his wife, Emily Roebling, to relay his orders when she would visit the bridge nearly everyday. Rumors also got around about the condition of Washington about the various times the public believed he was entirely incapacitated, or had even gone insane. When the Brooklyn Bridge opened to the public in 1883, Roebling did not attend the enormous celebrations. Although the nearly constant talk about his health, he lived to see the age of 89. When Roebling died in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1926, an obituary published in the New York Times said that in his final years he was fond of riding the streetcar from his mansion to the wire mill his family owned and operated.
