Comments on: Retrospective: Bernardsville’s Roebling Family and Their Brooklyn Bridge

By: Doug Dobbs

Doug Dobbs — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 00:40:31 +0000

I think 40 minutes from Bernardsville to Princeton in those days might have worked. Much less traffic than these days.

I never knew a Robert Roebling, but it’s possible he was a relative of some sort. The estate was still functioning in those days, so that would fit.

Thanks for sharing another thread to the story. 🙂

By: Victoria Webb

Victoria Webb — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 14:47:52 +0000

Fascinating story. I wonder if anyone has any information on a Robert (Robbie) Roebling. I sat next to him in first or second grade at the then elementary “Nassau Street” school in Princeton, NJ. This would have been around 1956-57 or so. We also took a class trip to the Roebling estate, and I don’t know whether that was in Bernardsville, or somewhere else. It would have been about a 40min. bus ride from Princeton. I do recall the structure and grounds being impressive even to a 6-7 year old. Robbie might have been either the son or grandson of Donald.

By: Mr. Local History Project

Mr. Local History Project — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 14:07:15 +0000

We believe Mr. Roebling also donated fire trucks to the Bernardsville FD as well as the PD’s first police cruiser.

By: Doug Dobbs

Doug Dobbs — Sun, 28 May 2023 02:30:21 +0000

The family telegraph is humming 🙂 I got an email from my cousin, Marcia Dobbs Hanle, and she said, “I have a book, The Builders of the Bridge, by D. B. Steinman, copyrights 1945, 1950, which has a business-size card that says, “Mrs. John A. Roebling, Boulderwood, Bernardsville, New Jersey” paperclip to it. On the title page, she wrote, “Ellsworth Dobbs, Builder of Houses, from Helen Price Roebling, October 9, 1956.”

Her grandfather was my dad’s brother, Ellsworth Dobbs. She hasn’t read the book yet but said she’d like to. Apparently it’s got some history in it that might bear on this question of “why Bernardsville?” I’ll keep you posted.

By: Doug Dobbs

Doug Dobbs — Sat, 27 May 2023 13:37:37 +0000

John R. II, so Dobbs family legend goes, used to walk down from Boulderwood to my grandfather's (Joe Dobbs) office on Dayton St. and sit and chat with him. When strolling his estate he would sometimes wear a fedora hat with the top cut out and a little pie tin put in it's place. The birds would come down and eat bird seed out of it. And it's said that when folks came to picnic on his estate, if he was nearby that he'd pick up and move away so they could enjoy their picnic in peace. My brother Steve says that Grandpa was the business agent for the Roeblings, and with my cousin Joe Jr's involvement in the break up and sale of the estate there may be some truth to that. As a young boy the first time I ever remember seeing a peacock I was on the back roof of the Roebling place and one spotted me up there and let out a scream. I remember I dropped my hammer and thought a woman was screaming. All of Dad's carpenters there got a good laugh and told me that the peacocks were the estate security system. They'd let out a shriek if they didn't know you. I have no insight into why Roeblings came to Bernardsville that I can recall. My dad (Harold Dobbs) might have known, but he's been gone since 2001. There were a lot of questions I would like to ask him about the business and his role in the area, but never got to take that ride around the Hills with him and a camcorder. All the business records were tossed when Dad shut down the business (Dobbs Builders and Harold J. Dobbs, Inc.) in the late 70's. You might look up my cousin W. Barry Thomson, he's done a lot of research on the local estates and something might have turned up that didn't make it into one of the books. I haven't researched any of that history beyond my own recollections, but there they are for better or worse.

By: Brooks Betz

Brooks Betz — Sat, 27 May 2023 12:48:51 +0000

Donald Roebling (November 15, 1908–1959) (John and Margaret’s son) was an eccentric twentieth century American philanthropist and inventor. He is most famous for inventing the amtrac in 1937, which he originally intended to be a hurricane rescue device. The United States Navy awarded Roebling a Certificate of Achievement in recognition of “exceptional accomplishment” for his invention, dubbed the Roebling Alligator. In 1948, he received the Medal of Merit from President Harry S. Truman, “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service to the United States.” He was the great-grandson of John A. Roebling and the grandson of Colonel Washington A. Roebling, who respectively designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge.

By: Brooks Betz

Brooks Betz — Sat, 27 May 2023 12:40:51 +0000

On May 27, 1937, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge was opened to the public for the first time for “Pedestrian Day,” marking the start of the weeklong “Golden Gate Bridge Fiesta” held to celebrate its completion. Thank you Roeblings for all that “Roebling cable.”

By: Brooks Betz

Brooks Betz — Sat, 27 May 2023 12:38:05 +0000

Hmmm – maybe the Kusar’s had something to do with Roebling moving to Bville – In 1906, Anthony Kuser and two of his brothers, his twin, John L., and Rudolph, attended the New York Automobile Show held at the iconic Madison Square Garden, designed by architect Stanford White and located on Madison Square from 1890 to 1925. The Kusers and the Roeblings, who also attended the show, were quite taken by the cars hand made by fellow Trentonian William Walter, a Swiss-born manufacturer of confectionery machinery. Several of the Kusers and Roeblings bought Walter’s cars and soon organized and invested in the new Walter Automobile Company, using a partially built brewery building the Kusers owned in Hamilton Township as the new company’s factory. Three years later, Anthony and John Kuser and brothers Ferdinand and Charles Roebling organized the Mercer Automobile Company, as the successor to the Walter firm. The high-quality, lightweight Mercer “Raceabouts” soon put Mercer (which also manufactured touring and other model cars) into the national spotlight after winning a number of important automobile races.

By: Mr. Local HIstory Project

Mr. Local HIstory Project — Sat, 27 May 2023 12:27:19 +0000

Found this fun reference on FB: For an inspiring picture book telling her story, check out “Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge” for ages 5 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/secret-engineer.

For adult readers, Emily Warren Roebling’s story is also told in David McCullough’s “The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge” at https://amzn.to/3sWpy4J

There is also a fantastic historical fiction novel based on her story for adults: “The Engineer’s Wife” at https://www.amightygirl.com/the-engineer-s-wife