Roebling Museum

Towns throughout the United States have historical backgrounds that make up the entirety of what America is today. The small town of Roebling, New Jersey, is home to a historic steel mill that was once booming with 8,000 workers who made the steel cables that constructed the Brooklyn Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge.

The Roebling Museum goes through the history of the famed Roebling family and how the town around it played a major role in the mill’s functioning. Once a peach and potato farm, 115 acres of land was purchased to build the steel mill and village for the workers. Construction of the town consisted of homes for the workers, a two-story general store, pharmacy, barbershop, gas station, doctors’ office, bank, a school and an auditorium for movies, boxing matches and vaudeville shows. Everything the workers and their families needed were right in the town.

Before the historical society stepped in to create this amazing museum, the EPA tried to tear down the remnants of the steel mill because of the high levels of contamination radiating through the grounds after the mill closed in 1974. The museum opened in 2009 to the public to showcase all John A. Roebling accomplished. Along with providing the materials and labor for the bridges, Roebling steel also helped create telegraphs, telephones, elevators, airplanes and Slinkys, a part of the industrial revolution.

You can visit the museum at 100 Second Ave., for an admission fee of $6 for adults and $5 for seniors and children 6–12 years old.