John A Roebling

Roebling, N.J.: A place of industry and history

Say the name Roebling to most folks, and images of the Brooklyn Bridge come to mind.

John Augustus Roebling (1806-1869) is famous for his wire rope suspension bridge designs, in particular, the design of the aforementioned Brooklyn Bridge. John A. Roebling & Sons built and provided the steel for numerous other bridges including the Golden Gate Bridge and one over the Niagara River just north of the Falls.

Less known is that John Roebling & Sons, the company responsible for these and other architectural wonders, was based in New Jersey. In fact, so great was the connection to New Jersey that the Roebling Company built their own company town in the state.

That place still stands today - the Village of Roebling, located in Burlington County on the Delaware River between Trenton and Burlington.

The Roebling Company was founded by Charles Roebling, son of John A. Robeling.

When, around the turn of the 20th century, high prices for imported steel prompted the Roebling family to decide to build new capacity, they realized there was insufficient land near their existing works in Trenton, New Jersey. They were looking to build a line of open-hearth furnaces, a billet mill to roll ingots into billets, a rod mill, two wire mills and lots more—all somewhat close to Trenton in a site equipped with water transportation and a railroad connection.

The Roebling site—at first called Kinkora—met these qualifications, being at the Delaware River and close to the Camden & Amboy Railroad.

"Perhaps the most troublesome feature of Kinkora (now called Roebling) was the utter lack of houses where the working men could live," wrote Washington Roebling, the oldest of the bridge-building brothers and the man who built the Brooklyn Bridge.

"This could only be overcome by building an entire town, a so-called Model Town."

A younger brother, Charles Roebling laid out 100-foot-wide streets and picked the London plane trees shading the medians. He chose nine different styles of house architecture, almost all of them built of sturdy red brick and slate roof.

He placed a water tower at one end of Main Street and the factory's No. 1 Gate at the other, the passageway through which every employee entered the "Lower Roebling Works."

Constructed as part of the town were stores, a water system, streets, and gas and electric system,. A police force had to be created. So did schools and even a jail.

John A. Roebling Marker

Builder of several suspension bridges in the United States. From a pamphlet celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge, 1933. The source of this image appeared in: (1883-05-26). "The New York and Brooklyn Suspension Bridge—New York Entrance". Harper's Weekly XXVII (1379): p. 321. New York: Harper & Brothers. Retrieved on 2009-09-23. This page originally submitted on May 7, 2011, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 49 times since then. Photos:   1, 2, 3.  submitted on May 7, 2011, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   4.  submitted on May 11, 2011, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.

John A. Roebling, an account of the ceremonies at the unveiling of a monument to his memory

John A. Roebling, an account of the ceremonies at the unveiling of a monument to his memory

Washington Roebling's father, a memoir of John A. Roebling

American Railroad-Journal, Extra. The great central Railroad from Philadelphia to St. Louis. By John A. Roebling

Final report