East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 5-2011 Wired for Business: The Roebling Story. Kelley Marie Hatch-Draper East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the Civil Engineering Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Hatch-Draper, Kelley Marie, "Wired for Business: The Roebling Story." (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1282. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1282 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Wired for Business: The Roebling Story _________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of History East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in History ________________ by Kelley Marie Hatch-Draper May 2011 _________________ Dr. Tom Lee, Chair Dr. Melvin Page Dr. Emmett Essin Dr. Stephen Fritz Keywords: Roebling, Wire Rope, Brooklyn Bridge, Technology, Civil Engineer. ABSTRACT Wired for Business: The Roebling Story by Kelley Marie Hatch-Draper 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.