John Augustus Roebling (born Johann August Röbling ; June 12, 1806 – July 22, 1869) was a German -born American civil engineer . He designed and built wire rope suspension bridges , in particular the Brooklyn Bridge , which has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark .
114-482: Röbling was born June 12, 1806 in Mühlhausen to Friederike Dorothea (née Muelleren) and Christoph Polykarpus Röbling. Recognizing his intelligence at a young age, Roebling's mother arranged for him to be tutored in mathematics and science at Erfurt by Ephraim Salomon Unger. He went to Erfurt when he was 15. In 1824 he passed his Surveyor's examination and returned home for a year. In 1824 he enrolled for two semesters at
228-507: A clear span of 1,224 feet (373 m). The anchorage and stone towers were completed, and the cable wire delivered along with the material for the superstructure, when the railway company became insolvent. The bridge construction was halted and he was never able to complete it. What is now known as the High Bridge was later completed as the first cantilever bridge in the US, with a truss for carrying
342-549: A 1000-page treatise on his own concepts of the universe. In 1825 Roebling got a government job in the Arnsberg province and moved to Eslohe , where he worked for four years on designing and supervising construction of military roads. During this period he made sketches for suspension bridges over Ruhr - and Lenne -river, which were never built. In 1829 he returned to his home to work out his final thesis and prepare for his second engineer examination. For unknown reasons, he never took
456-635: A French governor, based in the Kurmainzische Statthalterei , previously the seat of the city's governor under the Electorate. Napoleon first visited the principality on 23 July 1807, inspecting the citadels and fortifications. In 1808, the Congress of Erfurt was held with Napoleon and Alexander I of Russia visiting the city. During their administration, the French introduced street lighting and
570-661: A Quaker family. Ellet's younger brother, Alfred W. Ellet , served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War, and succeeded Charles as commander of the United States Ram Fleet following his death. Another relative, nephew John A. Ellet , served as a lieutenant colonel, commanding the ram USS Lancaster . Ellet married Elvira Augusta Stuart Daniel on November 7, 1837, in Lynchburg, Virginia . Her father
684-688: A concert in the Predigerkirche conducted by Louis Spohr . With the Sixth Coalition forming after French defeat in Russia, on 24 February 1813 Napoleon ordered the Petersburg Citadel to prepare for siege , visiting the city on 25 April to inspect the fortifications, in particular both Citadels. On 10 July 1813, Napoleon put Alexandre d'Alton [ fr ] , baron of the Empire , in charge of
798-550: A friar from 1505 to 1511. Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) served as organist at the Predigerkirche (Preachers Church) in Erfurt from June 1678 until August 1690. Pachelbel composed approximately seventy pieces for organ while in Erfurt. Charles Ellet Jr. Charles Ellet Jr. (1 January 1810 – 21 June 1862) was an American civil engineer from Pennsylvania who designed and constructed major canals, suspension bridges and railroads. He designed and supervised construction of
912-498: A huge 80-ton wire rope machine and founded the town of Roebling, New Jersey . Here the John A. Roebling's Sons company steel mill was built. His granddaughter Emily Roebling Cadwalader was a married Philadelphia socialite noted as the owner of historic yachts . His grandson Washington A. Roebling II died as a passenger on the RMS ; Titanic . His great-grandson Donald Roebling was
1026-689: A main span of 1,057 feet (322 m), at the time it was finished. In 1867, Roebling started design work on what is now called the Brooklyn Bridge , spanning the East River in New York. On June 28, 1869, at Fulton Ferry , while he was standing at the edge of a dock, working on fixing the location where the bridge would be built, his foot was crushed by an arriving ferry. His injured toes were amputated. He refused further medical treatment and wanted to cure his foot by " water therapy " (continuous pouring of water over
1140-524: A noted philanthropist and inventor who devised the amphtrack . His great-great-grandson Paul Roebling was a well-regarded actor. Erfurt Erfurt ( German pronunciation: [ˈɛʁfʊʁt] ) is the capital and largest city of the Central German state of Thuringia , with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the River Gera , in the southern part of
1254-431: A place called Erphesfurt, which for a long time has been inhabited by pagan natives." All three dioceses (the other two were Würzburg and Büraburg ) were confirmed by Zachary the next year, though in 755 Erfurt was brought into the diocese of Mainz . That the place was populous already is borne out by archeological evidence, which includes 23 graves and six horse burials from the sixth and seventh centuries. Throughout
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#17328453533221368-662: A poor merchant in the town, and his oldest brother Herman Christian Roebling prepared to take over the tobacco shop. As noted earlier, Roebling and his brother Carl immigrated to the United States, settling first in Pennsylvania. John Roebling and Johanna Herting had nine children: Roebling's son Washington and his daughter-in-law Emily Warren Roebling continued his work on the Brooklyn Bridge. His son Ferdinand expanded his wire rope business. His son Charles designed and invented
1482-648: A second community, which was disbanded by the city council in 1454. Because of their exceptional testimony to the life of a medieval Jewish community, the Jewish sites in Erfurt were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. In 1379, the University of Erfurt was founded. Together with the University of Cologne it was one of the first city-owned universities in Germany, while they were usually owned by
1596-538: A seven-strand wire rope at a ropewalk that he built on his farm. In 1841, Roebling began producing wire rope at Saxonburg to use in suspension bridges and such projects as the portage railroad. In 1844 Roebling won a bid to replace the wooden canal aqueduct across the Allegheny River with the Allegheny Aqueduct . His design encompassed seven spans of 163 feet (50 m), each consisting of a wooden trunk to hold
1710-666: A short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders. Erfurt is also the 10th-largest city in Germany by area with area of 269.17 km (103.93 sq mi). The birth deficit was 200 in 2012, this is −1.0 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: −4.5; national average: −2.4). The net migration rate was +8.3 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: −0.8; national average: +4.6). The most important regions of origin of Erfurt migrants are rural areas of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony as well as foreign countries like Poland, Russia, Syria, Afghanistan and Hungary. Erfurt
1824-573: A single bridge of the kind be put up in Philadelphia, exhibiting all the beautiful forms of the system to full advantage, and it needs no prophecy to foretell the effect which the novel and useful features will produce upon the intelligent minds of the Americans. At that time, canal boats from Philadelphia were transported over the Allegheny Mountains on railroad cars in order to access waterways on
1938-654: A surgeon for the patriot cause throughout the conflict. Their son Charles Rivers Ellet also served as a colonel in the Union Army and commander of the United States Ram Fleet. Their daughter Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell (1839–1930) would become the second wife of William Daniel Cabell in 1867 and became a founding member of the Daughters of the American Revolution . After returning from Europe, Ellet worked on
2052-677: A symbol of the citizens' oppression under the French; similarly the Napoleonshöhe was burned on 1 November 1813 and completely destroyed by Erfurters and their besiegers in 1814. After a call for volunteers 3 days later, 300 Erfurters joined the Coalition armies in France. Finally, in May 1814, the French capitulated fully, with 1,700 French troops vacating the Petersberg and Cyriaksburg fortresses. During
2166-578: A target of the Oil Campaign of World War II , Erfurt suffered only limited damage and was captured on 12 April 1945, by the US 80th Infantry Division . On 3 July, American troops left the city, which then became part of the Soviet Zone of Occupation and eventually of the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ). In 1948, Erfurt became the capital of Thuringia , replacing Weimar . In 1952,
2280-458: A tax on foreign horses to pay for maintaining the road surface . The Peterskirche suffered under the French occupation, with its inventory being auctioned off to other local churches – including the organ , bells and even the tower of the Corpus Christi chapel ( Fronleichnamskapelle ) – and the former monastery's library being donated to the University of Erfurt (and then to
2394-509: A temporary halt to Roebling's work, as resources were diverted to the war effort. In 1863 building resumed on a bridge over the Ohio River at Cincinnati , which Roebling had started in 1856 and halted due to lack of financing. He finished this bridge in 1867. The Cincinnati-Covington Bridge, later named the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in his honor, was the world's longest suspension bridge, with
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#17328453533222508-457: Is 100 km (62 mi) south-west of Leipzig , 250 km (155 mi) north-east of Frankfurt , 300 km (186 mi) south-west of Berlin and 400 km (249 mi) north of Munich . Erfurt's old town is one of the best preserved medieval city centres in Germany. The Gera is spanned by the Merchants' Bridge ( Krämerbrücke ), one of the rare bridges with houses built on it. On
2622-477: Is marked by Plattenbau settlements, constructed during the East Germany period: Berliner Platz , Moskauer Platz , Rieth , Roter Berg and Johannesplatz in the northern as well as Melchendorf , Wiesenhügel and Herrenberg in the southern city parts. Eventually, there are many villages with an average population of approximately 1,000 which were incorporated during
2736-496: Is only 535 mm (21.1 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Light snowfall mainly occurs from December through February, but snow cover does not usually remain for long. The Erfurt ( Erfurt–Weimar Airport ) weather station has recorded the following extreme values: Erfurt abuts the districts of Sömmerda (municipalities Witterda , Elxleben , Walschleben , Riethnordhausen , Nöda , Alperstedt , Großrudestedt , Udestedt , Kleinmölsen and Großmölsen ) in
2850-412: Is today one of the popular cities in former East Germany due to its universities and broadcasting companies. Like other cities within the area of former East Germany, foreigners account only for a small share of Erfurt's population: c. 3.0 % are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 5.9 % are migrants (according to the 2011 European Union census ). Due to the official atheism of
2964-716: The Landesherren . Some buildings of this old university are extant or restored in the "Latin Quarter" in the northern city centre (like Collegium Maius , student dorms " Georgenburse " and others, the hospital and the church of the university). The university quickly became a hotspot of German cultural life in Renaissance humanism with scholars like Ulrich von Hutten , Helius Eobanus Hessus and Justus Jonas . In 1501 Martin Luther (1483–1546) moved to Erfurt and began his studies at
3078-485: The Gründerzeit districts Andreasvorstadt in the northwest, Johannesvorstadt in the northeast, Krämpfervorstadt in the east, Daberstedt in the southeast, Löbervorstadt in the southwest and Brühlervorstadt in the west. More former industrial districts are Ilversgehofen (incorporated in 1911), Hohenwinden and Sulzer Siedlung in the north. Another group of districts
3192-723: The Länder in the GDR were dissolved in favour of centralization under the new socialist government. Erfurt then became the capital of a new " Bezirk " (district). In 1953, the Hochschule of education was founded, followed by the Hochschule of medicine in 1954, the first academic institutions in Erfurt since the closing of the university in 1816. On 19 March 1970, the East and West German heads of government Willi Stoph and Willy Brandt met in Erfurt,
3306-725: The USS Monarch . The Ellets had not coordinated a plan of attack with Davis and when the flotilla approached Confederate forces, the two rams steamed ahead of Davis' gunboats. The Queen of the West rammed and sank the Confederate flagship CSS Colonel Lovell . After the collision, the Queen of the West came under attack from the CSS Sumter and the CSS Beauregard . The attack sheared off one of
3420-691: The American Civil War , Ellet received a commission as colonel and created and commanded the United States Ram Fleet , a Union Army unit of ram ships converted from commercial steamers. His ram ships played a critical role in the Union naval victory at the First Battle of Memphis . He was wounded during the battle (the only casualty on the Union side) and died soon after. Ellet was born on January 1, 1810, at Penn's Manor in Bucks County, Pennsylvania . He
3534-471: The American Revolutionary War . His father was a Quaker and a descendant of Samuel Carpenter , who served as Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania. Ellet's maternal grandfather, Israel Israel, descended from a family of Jewish diamond cutters from Holland and was a member of Pennsylvania's Committee of Safety and a recognized active patriot. His maternal grandmother, Hannah Erwin, was from
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3648-608: The Bauakademie in Berlin , where he studied architecture and engineering under Martin Friedrich Rabe (1765–1856), bridge construction and foundation construction under Johann Friedrich Dietlein (1782–1837), hydraulics under Johann Albert Eytelwein (1764–1848), and languages. Roebling also attended lectures of the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel . He developed an interest in natural philosophy, and many years later worked on
3762-583: The Delaware and Hudson Canal . During this period, he moved to Trenton, New Jersey . In Trenton, Roebling built a large industrial complex for wire production for his growing company: John A. Roebling's Sons Company. This complex inspired Trenton's motto that appears on the Lower Trenton Bridge : "Trenton Makes, the World Takes". Roebling's next project, starting in 1851, was a railroad bridge connecting
3876-692: The Dominican monastery ( Predigerkloster ) in Erfurt when he was aged about 18 (around 1275). Eckhart was the Dominican prior at Erfurt from 1294 until 1298, and Vicar of Thuringia from 1298 to 1302. After a year in Paris, he returned to Erfurt in 1303 and administered his duties as Provincial of Saxony from there until 1311. Martin Luther (1483–1546) studied law and philosophy at the University of Erfurt from 1501. He lived in St ;Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt, as
3990-711: The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, constructed from 1933 to 1937. The Golden Gate Bridge was and still is a technical engineering marvel that Roebling, posthumously, has his footprint on. Kinkora Works , the site of the Roebling Company factory complex in Roebling, New Jersey was opened as a museum in 2010. The museum tells the story of the Roebling family and the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company. Roebling
4104-545: The Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach the following September. Although enclosed by Thuringian territory in the west, south and east, the city remained part of the Prussian Province of Saxony until 1944. After the 1848 Revolution , many Germans desired to have a united national state. An attempt in this direction was the failed Erfurt Union of German states in 1850. The Industrial Revolution reached Erfurt in
4218-581: The Köppen climate classification system. Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 23 °C (73 °F) and lows of 12 °C (54 °F). Winters are relatively cold with average high temperatures of 2 °C (36 °F) and lows of −3 °C (27 °F). The city's topography creates a microclimate caused by the location inside a basin with sometimes inversion in winter (quite cold nights under −20 °C (−4 °F)) and inadequate air circulation in summer. Annual precipitation
4332-627: The Left Bank of the Rhine . In the Capitulation of Erfurt , the city, its 12,000 Prussian and Saxon defenders under William VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau , 65 artillery pieces, and the Petersberg Citadel and Cyriaksburg Citadel Cyriaksburg , were handed over to the French on 16 October 1806. At the time of the capitulation, Joachim Murat , Marshal of France , had about 16,000 troops near Erfurt. With
4446-712: The Middle Ages , Erfurt was an important trading town because of its location, near a ford across the Gera river. Together with the other five Thuringian woad towns of Gotha , Tennstedt , Arnstadt and Langensalza it was the centre of the German woad trade, which made those cities very wealthy. Erfurt was the junction of important trade routes: the Via Regia was one of the most used east–west roads between France and Russia (via Frankfurt , Erfurt, Leipzig and Wrocław ) and another route in
4560-424: The New York Central and Great Western Railway of Canada over the Niagara River . Construction took four years. The bridge, with a clear span of 825 feet (251 m), was supported by four, ten-inch (25 cm) wire cables, and had two levels, one for vehicles and one for rail traffic. While the Niagara bridge was being built, Roebling designed a railway suspension bridge across the Kentucky River , which required
4674-400: The Stony House (Erfurt) [ de ] , forms the UNESCO World Heritage Site Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt [ de ] . The city's economy is based on agriculture, horticulture and microelectronics. Its central location has made it a logistics hub for Germany and central Europe. Erfurt hosts the second-largest trade fair in eastern Germany (after Leipzig), as well as
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4788-413: The Thuringian Basin , north of the Thuringian Forest , and in the middle of a line of the six largest Thuringian cities ( Thüringer Städtekette ), stretching from Eisenach in the west, via Gotha , Erfurt, Weimar and Jena , to Gera in the east. Together with Kassel and Göttingen , it is one of the cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants lying closest to the geographic centre of Germany. Erfurt
4902-458: The Utica and Schenectady Railroad and was appointed to conduct a survey of the Western New York section of the New York and Erie Railroad . In 1832, he submitted a proposal to Congress for a suspension bridge across the Potomac River , but it was rejected. In 1842, he designed and built the first major wire-cable suspension bridge in the United States, spanning 358 feet over the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . He
5016-399: The Wheeling Suspension Bridge and other projects, appointed Ellet colonel of engineers and authorized him to form the United States Ram Fleet on the Mississippi River. The Union Navy's Mississippi River Squadron and the Confederate River Defense Fleet were battling for control of the Mississippi and Stanton believed the Union Navy would benefit from the addition of ram ships. Ellet and
5130-433: The Wheeling Suspension Bridge , the longest suspension bridge in the world, from 1849 to 1851. He conducted the first Federal survey of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers as part of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers . Ellet published multiple books and essays on wide-ranging topics including macroeconomic theory, suspension bridge construction, railroad construction, river flood control and steam powered battery rams. During
5244-437: The latrine pit below. Ludwig III, Konrad I and Henry VI survived the affair. The Jewish community of Erfurt was founded in the 11th century and became, together with Mainz , Worms and Speyer , one of the most influential in Germany. The Old Synagogue is still extant and is a museum today, as is the mikveh at Gera river near Krämerbrücke . In 1349, during the wave of Black Death Jewish persecutions across Europe,
5358-428: The 1840s, when the Thuringian Railway connecting Berlin and Frankfurt was built. During the following years, many factories in different sectors were founded. One of the biggest was the "Royal Gun Factory of Prussia " in 1862. After the Unification of Germany in 1871, Erfurt moved from the southern border of Prussia to the centre of Germany, so the fortifications of the city were no longer needed. The demolition of
5472-430: The 1950s and 1960s on Kranichfelder Straße . Around 24,000 people still live in the large settlement, which was once designed for almost 40,000 inhabitants. Around the year 1500, the city had 18,000 inhabitants and was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire . The population then more or less stagnated until the 19th century. The population of Erfurt was 21,000 in 1820, and increased to 32,000 in 1847,
5586-446: The 20th century; they have mostly retained a rural character to date, however: Erfurt-Southeast (German: Erfurt-Südost ) is the collective name for a series of prefabricated housing areas that emerged in the southeast of Erfurt in the last ten years of East Germany. After Erfurt-Nord, Erfurt-Südost is the second-largest prefabricated building area in the city. The problems associated with large housing estates are not as pronounced in
5700-436: The Boineburg Library when the university closed in 1816). Similarly the Cyriaksburg Citadel was damaged by the French, with the city-side walls being partially dismantled in the hunt for imagined treasures from the convent, workers being paid from the sale of the building materials. In 1811, to commemorate the birth of the Prince Imperial , a 70-foot (21-metre) ceremonial column ( Die Napoleonsäule ) of wood and plaster
5814-469: The Confederate build up of ram ships. He even wrote directly to President Lincoln urging him to increase funding for the United States Army Corps of Engineers and offered to his knowledge of Virginia's terrain and infrastructure to cut off Confederate supply lines and to build steam-powered ram ships to protect northern ports. Lincoln told Ellet to seek opinions from U.S. Generals: Winfred Scott, George B. McClellan and James Totten. Lincoln's letter to Ellett
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#17328453533225928-415: The Erfurt Cathedral Hill is the ensemble of Erfurt Cathedral —which houses the world's largest free-swinging medieval bell —and St Severus' Church . Petersberg Citadel is one of the largest and best preserved town fortresses in Central Europe. Erfurt's Old Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in Europe, and together with the Erfurt Mikveh [ de ] , which was only rediscovered in 2007, and
6042-494: The Haßleben-Leuna group, which is an archeological cultural group. The Melchendorf dig in the southern city part showed a settlement from the neolithic period . The Thuringii inhabited the Erfurt area in c. 480 and gave their name to Thuringia in c. 500. The town is first mentioned in 742 under the name of "Erphesfurt": in that year, Saint Boniface wrote to Pope Zachary to inform him that he had established three dioceses in central Germany, one of them "in
6156-440: The Jews of Erfurt were rounded up, with more than 100 killed and the rest driven from the city. Before the persecution, a wealthy Jewish merchant buried his property in the basement of his house. In 1998, this treasure was found during construction works. The Erfurt Treasure with various gold and silver objects is shown in the exhibition in the synagogue today. Only a few years after 1349, the Jews moved back to Erfurt and founded
6270-423: The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers with a view to the preparation of adequate plans for flood prevention and navigation improvement. His detailed report had considerable influence on later engineering thought and navigation improvements. His Report of the Overflows of the Delta of the Mississippi River helped to reshape the New Orleans waterfront. George Perkins Marsh published Man and Nature 14 years later, but it
6384-402: The Thuringian City Alliance and the three cities joined the Hanseatic League together in 1430. A peak in economic development was reached in the 15th century, when the city had a population of 20,000 making it one of the largest in Germany. Between 1432 and 1446, a second and higher city wall was established. In 1483, a first city fortress was built on Cyriaksburg hill in the southwestern part of
6498-400: The annual " Freizins " (liberation tax), which marks a first step in becoming an independent city. During the 12th century, as a sign of more and more independence, the citizens built a city wall around Erfurt (in the area of today's Juri-Gagarin-Ring ). After 1200, independence was fulfilled and a city council was founded in 1217; the town hall was built in 1275. In the following decades,
6612-474: The attachment of the Saxe-Weimar territory of Blankenhain , the city became part of the First French Empire in 1806 as the Principality of Erfurt , directly subordinate to Napoleon as an "imperial state domain" ( French : domaine réservé à l'empereur ), separate from the Confederation of the Rhine , which the surrounding Thuringian states had joined. Erfurt was administered by a civilian and military Senate ( Finanz- und Domänenkammer Erfurt ) under
6726-412: The battle. The Confederate forces suffered a severe loss at the Battle of Memphis with heavy casualties and the loss of seven of their eight ships. Ellet refused to consider amputation for his injury., and his wound became infected and he died 15 days later of a blood infection in Cairo, Illinois . His body was taken to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where he was given a state funeral. He
6840-402: The city and instituted a governor to rule Erfurt. In 1682 and 1683 Erfurt experienced the worst plague years in its history. In 1683 more than half of the population died because of the deadly disease. In Erfurt witch-hunts are known to have taken place from 1526 to 1705. Trial records are incomplete. Twenty people were involved in witch trials and at least eight people died. During
6954-425: The city became the state capital. After reunification, a deep economic crisis occurred in Eastern Germany. Many factories closed and many people lost their jobs and moved to the former West Germany. At the same time, many buildings were redeveloped and the infrastructure improved massively. In 1994, the new university was opened, as was the Fachhochschule in 1991. Between 2005 and 2008, the economic situation improved as
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#17328453533227068-435: The city fortifications in 1873 led to a construction boom in Erfurt, because it was now possible to build in the area formerly occupied by the city walls and beyond. Many public and private buildings emerged and the infrastructure (such as a tramway, hospitals, and schools) improved rapidly. The number of inhabitants grew from 40,000 around 1870 to 130,000 in 1914, and the city expanded in all directions. The " Erfurt Program "
7182-451: The council bought a city-owned territory around Erfurt which consisted at its height of nearly 100 villages and castles and even another small town ( Sömmerda ). Erfurt became an important regional power between the Landgraviate of Thuringia around, the Electorate of Mainz to the west and the Electorate of Saxony to the east. Between 1306 and 1481, Erfurt was allied with the two other major Thuringian cities ( Mühlhausen and Nordhausen ) in
7296-453: The defences of Erfurt. However, when the French decreed that 1000 men would be conscripted into the Grande Armée , the recruits were joined by other citizens in rioting on 19 July that led to 20 arrests, of whom 2 were sentenced to death by French court-martial ; as a result, the French ordered the closure of all inns and alehouses. Within a week of the Sixth Coalition's decisive victory at Leipzig (16–19 October 1813), however, Erfurt
7410-402: The development of steam propulsion, ramming could be a very effective form of naval combat. The Crimean War was underway and Ellet offered his services to the Russian government to build a fleet of ram ships to help them defeat the naval blockade in the Black Sea during the Siege of Sebastopol . He received interest from the Russian government, but the plans were scrapped after the Russian Czar
7524-400: The economic centre of the region and was a member of the Hanseatic League . It was part of the Electorate of Mainz during the Holy Roman Empire , and became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1802. From 1949 until 1990 Erfurt was part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The University of Erfurt was founded in 1379, making it the first university to be established within
7638-533: The examination. On May 22, 1831, Roebling left Prussia with a group of emigrants bound for the United States. They included his brother Carl and the older Johann Adolphus Etzler , who believed in a technological utopia . Engineers had difficulty advancing and achieving economic mobility in Prussian society, in part because of the Napoleonic Wars , which had lasted until 1815, and suppressed investment in infrastructure. During this period, Prussia also had considerable political unrest, as authoritarian governments took
7752-422: The first such meeting since the division of Germany. During the 1970s and 1980s, as the economic situation in GDR worsened, many old buildings in city centre decayed, while the government fought against the housing shortage by building large Plattenbau settlements in the periphery. The Peaceful Revolution of 1989/1990 led to German reunification . With the re-formation of the state of Thuringia in 1990,
7866-448: The following centuries. The later 16th and the 17th century brought a slow economic decline of Erfurt. Trade shrank, the population was falling and the university lost its influence. The city's independence was endangered. In 1664, the city and surrounding area were brought under the dominion of the Electorate of Mainz and the city lost its independence. The Electorate built a huge fortress on Petersberg hill between 1665 and 1726 to control
7980-419: The former communist East German regime, most of the population is non-religious. 14.8 % are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and 6.8 % are Catholics (according to the 2011 EU census). The Jewish community consists of 500 members. Most of them migrated to Erfurt from Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s. The theologian, philosopher and mystic Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328) entered
8094-445: The gastronomy sector and in 2014 there was a shoot-out in an open street. Erfurt is situated in the south of the Thuringian basin , a fertile agricultural area between the Harz mountains 80 km (50 mi) to the north and the Thuringian Forest 30 km (19 mi) to the southwest. Whereas the northern parts of the city area are flat, the southern ones consist of hilly landscape up to 430 m of elevation. In this part lies
8208-490: The geographic area which constitutes modern Germany. It closed in 1816 and was re-established in 1994. Martin Luther (1483–1546) was its most famous student, studying there from 1501 before entering St Augustine's Monastery in 1505. Other noted Erfurters include the medieval philosopher and mystic Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328), the Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) and the sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920). To
8322-523: The late 18th century, Erfurt saw another cultural peak. Governor Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg had close relations with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Friedrich Schiller , Johann Gottfried Herder , Christoph Martin Wieland and Wilhelm von Humboldt , who often visited him at his court in Erfurt. Erfurt became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1802, to compensate for territories Prussia lost to France on
8436-421: The load between the cables and the stays . Roebling added a large safety factor to the divided loads and then solved for the forces. This approach gave a sufficiently accurate analysis of the structure given the assumption that the structure was sufficiently ductile to handle the resulting deformation (Buonopane, 2006). Roebling's company John A Roebling's Sons Co. is credited with being the cable contractor for
8550-644: The market leader in this industry. Under the Nazis, JA Topf & Sons supplied specially developed crematoria, ovens and associated plants to the Auschwitz-Birkenau , Buchenwald and Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camps. On 27 January 2011 a memorial and museum dedicated to the Holocaust victims was opened at the former company premises in Erfurt. During World War II , Erfurt experienced more than 27 British and American air raids, about 1600 civilians died. Bombed as
8664-480: The municipal forest of Steigerwald with beeches and oaks as main tree species. To the east and to the west are some non-forested hills so that the Gera river valley within the town forms a basin. North of the city are some gravel pits in operation, while others are abandoned, flooded and used as leisure areas. Erfurt has an oceanic climate ( Cfb ) bordering on a humid continental climate ( Dfb ) according to
8778-471: The new Nazi government and Adolf Hitler . Others, especially some communist workers, put up resistance against the new administration. In 1938, the new synagogue was destroyed during the Kristallnacht . Jews lost their property and emigrated or were deported to Nazi concentration camps (together with many communists). In 1914, the company Topf and Sons began the manufacture of crematoria later becoming
8892-463: The next season's crops. But by the 1840s, the economy was improving and many Americans believed in the nation's manifest destiny to extend its borders and achieve greatness on the North American continent. Transportation between eastern industrial hubs and frontier farming markets had become a matter of both national and popular interest. Many railway and transportation projects were under way near
9006-431: The north, Weimarer Land (municipalities Niederzimmern , Nohra , Mönchenholzhausen and Klettbach ) in the east, Ilm-Kreis (municipalities Kirchheim , Rockhausen and Amt Wachsenburg ) in the south and Gotha (municipalities Nesse-Apfelstädt , Nottleben , Zimmernsupra and Bienstädt ) in the west. The city itself is divided into 53 districts. The centre is formed by the district Altstadt (old town) and
9120-671: The north–south direction was the connection between the Baltic Sea ports (e. g. Lübeck ) and the potent upper Italian city-states like Venice and Milan . During the tenth and eleventh centuries both the Emperor and the Electorate of Mainz held some privileges in Erfurt. The German kings had an important monastery on Petersberg hill and the Archbishops of Mainz collected taxes from the people. Around 1100, some people became free citizens by paying
9234-642: The other settlers had remained with Etzler. In 20th-century recognition of his historic importance, the John Roebling House at Saxonburg was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. When the Roeblings and others arrived, the United States was in the later stages of an economic boom, which ended in the financial Panic of 1837 , reducing everyone's opportunities. Farmers were deeply affected by it as they often depended on credit to produce
9348-585: The other side of the mountains, so that the boats could continue to Pittsburgh. The system of inclines and levels that moved the boats and conventional railroad cars was a state-owned enterprise, the Allegheny Portage Railroad . The railroad cars were pulled up and down the inclines by a long loop of thick hemp rope, up to 7 centimetres thick. The hemp ropes were expensive and had to be replaced frequently. Roebling remembered an article he had read about wire rope . Soon after, he started developing
9462-526: The paddle wheels from the Queen of the West and forced her to ground on the riverbank. The Monarch rammed and disabled the CSS General Price and forced her to ground on the riverbank also. Ellet sent a boarding party and captured the General Price . Ellet was wounded in the knee by a Confederate sharpshooter during the battle. His wound was the only serious casualty received on the Union side during
9576-456: The places of democratic ones. Etzler believed that they could create a technological utopia in the United States, but disputes arose among the men en route. The group split up after reaching Pennsylvania . John and Carl Roebling purchased 1,582 acres (640 hectares) of land on October 28, 1831, in Butler County with the intent to establish a German settlement, to be called Saxonburg . Most of
9690-513: The project and it was completed in 1883. John Roebling is buried in the Riverview Cemetery in Trenton, New Jersey . Roebling devised "an equilibrium strength approach, in which equilibrium is always satisfied but compatibility of deformations is not enforced." This was essentially an approximation method similar to the force method: First, Roebling computed the dead and live loads, then divided
9804-719: The public television children's channel KiKa . The city is on the Via Regia , a medieval trade and pilgrims' road network. Erfurt Main Station is the junction of the Nuremberg–Erfurt and the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed lines with the Halle–Bebra railway . Erfurt was first mentioned in 742, as Saint Boniface founded the diocese. Although the town did not belong to any of the Thuringian states politically, it quickly became
9918-611: The railway track . A second version was built on the same foundations in 1911. The highest railroad bridge over a navigable river in the United States, the bridge is still in use. In 1859 Roebling completed another suspension bridge at Pittsburgh over the Allegheny River. Its total length was 1,030 feet (314m), consisting of two main spans of 344 feet (105m) each, and two side spans of 171 feet (52m) each. His son Washington Roebling worked with him on that project, having completed his engineering degree. The American Civil War brought
10032-553: The ram fleet joined the Mississippi River Squadron, led by Charles H. Davis , on the Mississippi River north of Fort Pillow, Tennessee . Davis had little faith in the effectiveness of the rams, but allowed the fleet to accompany his gunboats down the river to Memphis. On June 6, Ellet led the rams in the First Battle of Memphis as captain of USS Queen of the West with his brother Alfred W. in command of
10146-461: The ram fleet were outside of the navy's direct chain of command and reported directly to Stanton. Ellet purchased the nine of the fastest river steamboats available on the Ohio River and converted them to rams. He assigned family members as captains of the other rams, including his brother Alfred W. Ellet , his son Charles Rivers Ellet and his nephew John A. Ellet . On May 25, 1862, Ellet and
10260-581: The record-breaking Wheeling suspension bridge over the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia , with a span over 1,000 feet. In the same year, he erected the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge , the first ever railway suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge with a 770-foot span. In 1850, the Secretary of War, conforming to an Act of Congress, directed Ellet to make surveys and reports on
10374-400: The reunification resulted in a decline in population, which fell to 200,000 in 2002 before rising again to 206,000 in 2011. The average growth of population between 2009 and 2012 was approximately 0.68 % p. a., whereas the population in bordering rural regions is shrinking with accelerating tendency. Suburbanization played only a small role in Erfurt. It occurred after reunification for
10488-507: The site which Roebling chose for his colony, but instead of continuing in the engineering profession, he took up farming. After five years he married Johanna Herting, a tailor's daughter. He found agrarian work unsatisfying, and Saxonburg attracted few settlers. In 1837, after the birth of his first child and the death of his brother Carl, Roebling returned to engineering for work. He first worked on projects to improve river navigation and build canals . For three years, he conducted surveys for
10602-495: The southeast as in the north, but they are still present. The districts of Melchendorf, Herrenberg and Wiesenhügel belong to Erfurt-Südost, all of which were formed from the former local area of Melchendorf. The village of Melchendorf with around 1,000 inhabitants lies between the prefabricated building areas. In addition to the old village, the district of Melchendorf also includes the prefab housing areas of Drosselberg and Buchenberg as well as several four-story apartment blocks from
10716-559: The state of Pennsylvania for railway lines across the Allegheny Mountains , from the capital, Harrisburg , to Pittsburgh in the far west, at the start of the Ohio River . In 1840, Roebling wrote to suspension bridge designer Charles Ellet Jr. , offering to help with the design of a bridge near Philadelphia : The study of suspension bridges formed for the last few years of my residence in Europe my favourite occupation ... Let but
10830-623: The town. In the year 1184, Erfurt was the location of a notable accident called the Erfurter Latrinensturz ('Erfurt latrine fall'). King Henry VI held council in a building of the Erfurt Cathedral to negotiate peace between two of his vassals, Archbishop Konrad I of Mainz and Landgrave Ludwig III of Thuringia . The amassed weight of all the gathered men proved too heavy for the floor to bear, which collapsed. According to contemporary accounts, dozens of people fell to their death into
10944-456: The two and a half months of siege, the mortality rate rose in the city greatly; 1,564 Erfurt citizens died in 1813, around a thousand more than the previous year. After the Congress of Vienna , Erfurt was restored to Prussia on 21 June 1815, becoming the capital of one of the three districts ( Regierungsbezirke ) of the new Province of Saxony , but some southern and eastern parts of Erfurter lands joined Blankenhain in being transferred to
11058-532: The unemployment rate decreased and new enterprises developed. In addition, the population began to increase once again. A school shooting occurred on 26 April 2002 at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium. Since the 1990s, organized crime has gained a foothold in Erfurt, with several mafia groups, including the Armenian mafia present in the city. Among other events, there has been a robbery and an arson attack targeting
11172-669: The university's Library. On November 6, 1999, the Wheeling, West Virginia chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a commemorative plaque on the western abutment of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge recognizing Ellet's accomplishments and his daughter, Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell 's, role in founding the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 2000, Ellet was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame at
11286-584: The university. After 1505, he lived at St. Augustine's Monastery as a friar. In 1507 he was ordained as a priest in Erfurt Cathedral. He moved permanently to Wittenberg in 1511. Erfurt was an early adopter of the Protestant Reformation , in 1521. In 1530, the city became one of the first in Europe to be officially bi-confessional with the Hammelburg Treaty. It kept that status through all
11400-526: The water, supported by a continuous cable made of many parallel wires, wrapped tightly together, on each side of the trunk. He followed this innovation in 1845 by building a suspension bridge over the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh. The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Pittsburgh forms the Ohio River . In 1848, Roebling undertook the construction of four suspension aqueducts on
11514-643: The west of Erfurt in Frienstedt existed, in the AD era, a big Germanic village, which was found during the construction of a highway. Where they also discovered the oldest Germanic word ever discovered in Central Germany written in runic script was found on a comb from a sacrificial shaft the word: "kaba". From Roman Times , however, they found 200 coins dating back to the third century, plus 150 Roman ceramic fragments and more than 200 fibulae . Also 11 inhumation graves of
11628-471: The wound). His condition deteriorated. He died on July 22, 1869, of tetanus at the home of his son on Hicks Street , in Brooklyn Heights . It was 24 days after the accident. His son Washington Roebling was later named chief engineer of the project, but due to his further incapacity to work after suffering from 'the bends' while in a caisson on the river bed, his wife Emily Warren Roebling took over
11742-465: The year of rail connection as industrialization began. In the following decades Erfurt grew up to 130,000 at the beginning of World War I and 190,000 inhabitants in 1950. A maximum was reached in 1988 with 220,000 persons. In 1991, after the German reunification and when Erfurt became the capital of Thuringia state, it had a population of about 205,000. The bad economic situation in eastern Germany after
11856-410: Was Ellet who first noted in writing that the artificial embankments created an overflowing delta. However, only decades later would his assertions be taken seriously and used in flood control decisions. In September 1854, while travelling overseas, Ellet learned that the 250-ton SS Vesta had accidentally rammed and sank the 2,794-ton SS Arctic . This incident convinced Ellet that with
11970-627: Was Virginia lawyer and soon-to-be judge William Daniel and her mother was Margaret Baldwin. She could trace her descent among the First Families of Virginia and owned enslaved persons, although Ellet himself never did. Judge Daniel's father (also a lawyer and judge of the same name William Daniel Sr. ) had served as an ensign during the Revolutionary war under Captain Arda Allen, and his wife's maternal grandfather, Dr. Cornelius Baldwin, had served as
12084-630: Was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany during its congress at Erfurt in 1891. Between the wars, the city kept growing. Housing shortages were fought with building programmes and social infrastructure was broadened according to the welfare policy in the Weimar Republic . The Great Depression between 1929 and 1932 led to a disaster for Erfurt, nearly one out of three became unemployed. Conflicts between far-left and far-right-oriented milieus increased and many inhabitants supported
12198-528: Was assassinated. Ellet became enthusiastic about the possibility of a ram fleet and wrote to the U.S. Navy with his plan, but was unable to persuade them of the benefit. He published the pamphlet Coast and Harbor Defenses, or the Substitution of Steam Battering Rams for Ships of War in late 1855, hoping to gain public interest. When the Civil War broke out, Ellet renewed his advocacy especially in light of
12312-473: Was besieged by Prussian, Austrian and Russian troops under the command of Prussian Lt Gen von Kleist . After a first capitulation signed by d'Alton on 20 December 1813 the French troops withdrew to the two fortresses of Petersberg and Cyriaksburg, allowing for the Coalition forces to march into Erfurt on 6 January 1814 to jubilant greetings; the Napoleonsäule ceremonial column was burned and destroyed as
12426-813: Was carried to the home of McClellan, who refused to see Ellet or consider his proposal. The Confederate forces captured the USS Merrimack at the Norfolk Navy Yard and converted her to a ram ship. Despite the vessel's being bulky and slow-moving, the Union forces became convinced of the possibility of ram ships when the Merrimack , renamed CSS Virginia , sank the USS Cumberland and USS Congress at Hampton Roads. The Navy still ignored him, but in March 1862, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton , familiar with his work on
12540-745: Was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1843. Ellet supervised construction of the James River and Kanawha Canal in Virginia. From 1846 to 1847, he worked as president of the Schuylkill Navigation Company in Pennsylvania and supervised improvements to the canal used for transporting anthracite coal. He also constructed railroads in those states. Ellet developed theories for improving flood control and navigation of Mid-western rivers. In 1848, Ellet built
12654-622: Was erected on the common . Similarly, the Napoleonshöhe – a Greek-style temple topped by a winged victory with shield, sword and lance and containing a bust of Napoleon sculpted by Friedrich Döll – was erected in the Stiegerwald woods, including a grotto with fountain and flower beds, using a large pond ( lavoratorium ) from the Peterskirche , inaugurated with ceremony on 14 August 1811 after extravagant celebrations for Napoleon's birthday, which were repeated in 1812 with
12768-533: Was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery . Command of the ram fleet went to his brother Alfred W. Ellet. The U.S. Navy named a destroyer to honor the Ellet family. USS Ellet (DD-398) was in service in 1939–46 during World War II . In 1994, Stanford University received a gift of Ellet's Civil War letters from Elizabeth Ellet Nitz and Frances Ellet Ward. The papers are housed in the Department of Special Collections at
12882-683: Was the sixth child of 14 born to Charles Ellet Sr. and Mary Israel. He studied at the Bristol school and worked as a rodman , measuring for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and making drawings. Benjamin Wright promoted him to Assistant Engineer of the Fifth Residency, but in 1830, he resigned to continue his studies in Paris, where he studied civil engineering at École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées . Both Ellet's maternal and paternal grandfathers served in
12996-524: Was the youngest of four children. He was baptized in the Lutheran church Divi Blasii in Mühlhausen . As a young boy he played the bass clarinet and the french horn . He also exhibited great artistic talent for sketches and paintings. His father owned a small tobacco shop, but the business was insufficient to provide livelihood for all three sons. Roebling's sister Friederike Amalie married Carl August Meissner,
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