John Augustus Roebling II (November 21, 1867 – February 2, 1952) was an American

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and philanthropist. Following his father's death, he became the largest individual shareholder in the family business, John A. Roebling's Sons.

Early life and education

Roebling was born to Washington Roebling and Emily Warren Roebling on November 21, 1867, in

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and bec ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where his father had been sent to study the use of caissons that were to be used in the construction of the foundations of the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

. He was named for his grandfather, the original designer of the bridge. Raised in the Columbia Heights, Brooklyn neighborhood, where his parents were supervising the construction of the bridge, Roebling attended Collegiate School and Brooklyn Boy's Preparatory School. After the bridge was completed, he moved with his family to

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

, where he attended

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

, earning an undergraduate degree in civil engineering in 1888 before a master's degree in chemistry.Lohrer, Fred E
"John A. Roebling, II (1867-1952), Builder of the Red Hill Estate (1929-1941), Lake Placid, Florida"
,

Archbold Biological Station The Archbold Biological Station (ABS) is a research institute with a surrounding estate near Lake Placid, Florida, USA. It includes an extensive area of Florida scrub, a scientifically interesting and highly threatened ecosystem. It was establ ...

, October 2, 2006, last updated July 17, 2017. Accessed October 24, 2018.

Career

He started work as a chemist for the family business, but was forced to decrease his work due to a lingering heart condition that had affected him since his youth.Staff
"John A. Roebling, Engineer, 84, Dies; Son of Builder and Grandson of Designer of Brooklyn Bridge Aided Smithsonian Institution"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', February 3, 1952. Accessed October 25, 2018. Following his marriage to Margaret Shippen McIlvane in 1889, they moved to Oracle, Arizona and later

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

where the weather was more conducive to her lung ailment. He moved to

Bernardsville, New Jersey Bernardsville () is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is nestled in the heart of the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,707,

in 1904 and acquired the Boulderwood estate after Asheville voted in favor of

alcohol prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic be ...

. He continued to work independently on chemistry research and became the owner of 18.4% of the family business, John A. Roebling's Sons, after his father's death in 1926. He acquired of land in

Lake Placid, Florida Lake Placid is a town in Highlands County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 2,223 and in 2018 the estimated population was 2,439. It is part of the Sebring Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town has two nickname ...

in the late 1920s, which became the site of the Red Hill Estate, constructed on Red Hill, which rose . A storehouse, constructed to store supplies, was used by his son,

Donald Roebling Donald Roebling (November 15, 1908 – August 29, 1959) was an eccentric twentieth-century American philanthropist, engineer, industrial designer, and inventor. He was the great-grandson of John A. Roebling, who began the design of the Brooklyn ...

, to develop and test his amtrac, which was planned to help rescue people during hurricanes, but became the basis of the amphibious

Landing Vehicle Tracked The Amphibious Vehicle, Tracked (LVT) is an amphibious warfare vehicle and amphibious landing craft, introduced by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. (The USN and USMC use "L" to designate Amphibious vessels, also c ...

used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Philanthropy

Boulderwood is part of the

Olcott Avenue Historic District Bernardsville () is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is nestled in the heart of the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,707,

, and Roebling was credited with creating work for needy locals during the Great Depression. In July 1941, the estate was given to

Richard Archbold Richard Archbold (April 9, 1907 – August 1, 1976) was an American zoologist and philanthropist. He was independently wealthy, being the grandson of the capitalist John Dustin Archbold. He was educated at private schools, and later attended cla ...

, a zoologist who used the site to create the

. A collection of 16,000 mineral samples, among them many type specimens, along with an endowment of $150,000, was contributed by Roebling to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. The collection was described in the organization's annual report as including "practically every known mineral species".''Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1927''

. Accessed October 25, 2018. "The Roebling mineralogical collection was presented to the Smithsonian by Mr John A Roebling of Bernardsville NJ in memory of his father, Col. Washington A. Roebling, who died in July, 1926, willing the mineral collection to his son. The Roebling collection contains over 16,000 specimens, including practically every known mineral species. Mr. Roebling also accompanied his gift with an endowment fund of $150,000 for its development."

Death

Roebling died at his Boulderwood estate in Bernardsville on February 2, 1952. He was survived by his son Donald, and by his second wife, Helen Price, who he had married in 1931.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roebling II, John A. 1867 births 1952 deaths American civil engineers People from Bernardsville, New Jersey People from Brooklyn Heights People from Mühlhausen Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Engineers from New York (state) Engineers from New Jersey Collegiate School (New York) alumni Roebling family