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Bridge Builder in Petticoats: Emily Roebling

The Brooklyn Bridge has been featured in many books and films. Yet few people know that a woman helped manage much of its construction. Carol Simon Levin re-enacts Emily Roebling's story.

Built between 1869 and 1883, without modern machines or even electric light was one of the most amazing technological achievements of its time. After her husband was bedridden, Emily Roebling became his liaison to the project - eventually communicating with the engineers and suppliers so well that it was rumored that she had become the Chief Engineer herself! Later she helped design the family mansion in Trenton, studied law, organized relief for returning troops from the Spanish American War, attended the coronation of the Tsar of Russia and even took tea with Queen Victoria. At her death, she was called "the most famous woman in New Jersey" and "one of the most noted women in the country," yet today almost no one knows her name!

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