John Augustus Roebling – 1806-1869

Born in Germany, Roebling immigrated to the United States when he was 25 and made a fortune as a manufacturer of wire and cable. He used the cable in the design of suspension bridges, including two in Pittsburgh, one at Niagara Falls, and one across the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky. His masterpiece design was the Brooklyn Bridge. Injured during the earliest phase of construction, he succumbed to tetanus, and his work was carried through to completion by his son, Washington Augustus Roebling.