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East Tennessee State University

Wired for Business: The Roebling Story.

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>John Augustus Roebling, a classically educated civil engineer and young Hegelian, immigrated to America in 1831 in search of freedom from a repressive political system that afforded him no opportunity for advancement. Arriving in the midst of the American market revolution, his dream of establishing an agrarian farming colony changed in response to societal transformations resulting from mechanization and the rise of industry. Within forty years, Roebling achieved fame as a canal engineer and bridge designer while establishing the American wire rope industry. Without Roebling's innovation in wire-rope, modern suspension bridges, high-rise elevators, construction cranes, and cable cars would not have been possible. Yet historians have virtually ignored Roebling and other civil engineers, entrepreneurs, and inventors who built America's infrastructure. Known primarily, if at all, as the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, Roebling is an enlightening study of Old World education and training used in the New World.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
MA (Master of Arts)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis - unrestricted
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
History
Year dc:date.issued
2011

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Hatch-Draper, Kelley Marie

Subjects

dc:subject × 8

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • Copyright by the authors.

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1282
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2473

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
East Tennessee State University
Base URL
dc.etsu.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Hatch-Draper, Kelley Marie. Wired for Business: The Roebling Story.. Thesis - unrestricted thesis, 2011. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1282