Brian Moore
Moderator
This is a shot I took at the Angel City Brewery in Los Angeles a few years ago. The beer was pretty good. I've posted it before I think, but I'm sure the link has broken.
Note the faded lettering on the brick above the awning. The building was once occupied by the John A. Roebling's Sons Wire Rope Company. So what's that got to do with the Brooklyn Bridge?
John Roebling was an engineer and bridge builder who had emigrated to the US from Germany. He designed the Brooklyn Bridge. He died of tetanus before the bridge was built. (One of his feet was crushed by a boat against a dock when he was inspecting foundations for the bridge. He didn't believe in traditional medicine and preferred to self-medicate with water.) His son, Washington Roebling, took over as chief engineer for the build of the bridge. When he was stricken by Caisson Disease (the Bends), he was confined to his apartment where he oversaw construction from a window while his wife Emily became his eyes and ears on the site. It is a heroic story documented by David McCullough in his wonderful book "The Great Bridge." Roebling's reputation as an engineer was made by bridge building, but he made his fortune through the manufacture of wire rope. His wire rope was used in the Brooklyn bridge and also in San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and presumably others.
Canon P with Tri-X.
Note the faded lettering on the brick above the awning. The building was once occupied by the John A. Roebling's Sons Wire Rope Company. So what's that got to do with the Brooklyn Bridge?
John Roebling was an engineer and bridge builder who had emigrated to the US from Germany. He designed the Brooklyn Bridge. He died of tetanus before the bridge was built. (One of his feet was crushed by a boat against a dock when he was inspecting foundations for the bridge. He didn't believe in traditional medicine and preferred to self-medicate with water.) His son, Washington Roebling, took over as chief engineer for the build of the bridge. When he was stricken by Caisson Disease (the Bends), he was confined to his apartment where he oversaw construction from a window while his wife Emily became his eyes and ears on the site. It is a heroic story documented by David McCullough in his wonderful book "The Great Bridge." Roebling's reputation as an engineer was made by bridge building, but he made his fortune through the manufacture of wire rope. His wire rope was used in the Brooklyn bridge and also in San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and presumably others.
Canon P with Tri-X.
