On July 15, 1867, Emily Warren Roebling assumed de facto management of the Brooklyn Bridge construction project after her husband Washington Roebling was incapacitated by decompression sickness — the bends — contracted in the caissons beneath the East River.

Washington Roebling could not go to the construction site. He watched through a telescope from his apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Emily became his intermediary: she carried his instructions to the engineers, reported conditions back, and gradually became the effective project manager for the most complex engineering project in American history to that date.

To do this, she had to learn the engineering. She did: strength of materials, cable construction, bridge specifications, geology. She is believed to have supervised more of the Brooklyn Bridge's technical execution than any other single person. When the bridge opened in 1883, Emily Roebling was the first person to cross it — by tradition, the first person on a new bridge is its engineer.

The dedication ceremony praised Washington Roebling and the memory of his father John Roebling, who had conceived the project and died before it began. An orator noted Emily's contribution in a subordinate clause.

A plaque commemorating her role was added to the bridge in 1983 — one hundred years after the opening.