The Gilded Age: Who Was Emily Roebling, And Did She Really Build The Brooklyn Bridge?

Warning! SPOILERS about The Gilded Age season 2, episode 5 ahead.

The Gilded Age season 2, episode 5 introduced Emily Roebling as the one in charge of the Brooklyn Bridge works, hinting at a secret undisclosed history behind one of the most famous New York landmarks. The Gilded Age season 2, episode 3 already introduced historical figures that really existed by having playwright Oscar Wilde show one of his works to the New York elites, and while the Duke of Buckingham is a fictional character, he was inspired by the many British nobles flocking to New York around the 1880s. However, Larry’s discovery in “Close Enough to Touch” has bigger ramifications, for The Gilded Age’s fictional story and history.

Despite Larry’s refusal to be involved in the Russell business, representing his father as a trustee of the Brooklyn Bridge proved too good a chance for an emergent architect like him. However, with Mr. Roebling, chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge construction, never in the office nor at the construction site and Mrs. Roebling involved in every meeting, he easily figured out who was really getting the bridge ready for the opening ceremony. The Gilded Age season 2’s story about the Brooklyn Bridge opening thus took the chance to shine a light on the real history behind the Brooklyn Bridge construction, and the many architects who worked on it.

Related

Gilded Age True Story: Who George Russell Is Based On & Why That Matters

The Gilded Age’s George Russell is based on a real-life robber baron whose contentious relationship with the real Mrs. Astor hints at George’s arc.

Emily Roebling Really Took Part In The Planning Of The Brooklyn Bridge

Encyclopædia Britannica ascribes to Emily Warren Roebling the role of businesswoman “largely responsible for guiding the construction” of the Brooklyn Bridge from 1869 to the year of its completion, 1883. Like The Gilded Age season 2, episode 5 highlighted through the words of Emily Roebling’s fictional version, Roebling really accompanied her husband Washington Augustus Roebling to Europe between 1867 and 1868, where he studied the latest techniques to construct foundations underwater. After her husband’s father and Brooklyn Bridge principal designer died and Washington suffered severe attacks of decompression sickness, she essentially took over her husband, and her proficiency regarding construction, cable fabrication, and materials had many observers believe she had assumed the duties of chief engineer.

Unlike The Gilded Age season 2, which had Mr. Roebling away in Newport, in reality, he observed how construction was progressing from their house in Brooklyn Heights with a telescope. Emily Roebling never stopped advocating for her husband to remain the project manager of the Brooklyn Bridge, reassuring officials that he was the right choice for the job. Mrs. Roebling went out of her way in The Gilded Age season 2 to highlight how it could never be known that a woman was behind the Brooklyn Bridge construction, but on opening day she was on the first carriage from the Brooklyn side, carrying a rooster to indicate victory.

What Happened To The Real Emily Roebling

While Emily Roebling refused to let her contribution be known to the public in The Gilded Age season 2, her work was known in reality, to the point that rival steelmaker Abram S. Hewitt aimed to diminish the landmark’s greatness by deeming it forever associated with her. After the Brooklyn Bridge opened, the Roeblings moved to Trenton, New Jersey, where Emily oversaw the construction of their new home. She continued to pursue various philanthropic and social organizations and received a certificate in business law from the Woman’s Law Class at NYU, before dying in 1903. Hopefully, The Gilded Age season 2 can continue to focus on this astonishing historical figure.