222 West State Street: A History

Domestic Beginnings

When 28-year-old Ferdinand W. Roebling, Senior, purchased his home at 222 West State St. in 1870 from U.S Senator John P. Stockton, little did he know that the property was destined to one day become the headquarters for the state’s pre-eminent association serving all of New Jersey’s municipalities.

The Roebling Family: Three Generations

In 1870, the building was sold to Ferdinand W. Roebling, Sr., by U.S. Senator John Potter Stockton, whose father, Robert, had also served in the Senate and as President of the Delaware and Raritan Canal. His father, Richard, preceded him in the Senate, after which he served in the House of Representatives. And his father, also named Richard, had represented New Jersey as a Member of the Continental Congress, where he became a signatory to the Declaration of Independence.

The home’s new owner was the second son of John A. Roebling, the manufacturer/inventor of wire rope and the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge. Ferdinand, Senior, the financial and business genius of the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company family firm, was also the driving force behind the establishment of the Trenton Free Public Library and the man most responsible for the design and construction of Trenton City Hall. Three generations of Roeblings resided at 222.

The financing package likely would have intrigued Ferdinand Roebling. As secretary/treasurer of the Roebling Wire Company, which his father founded in Trenton in 1849 at the height of U.S Industrial Revolution, Ferdinand Roebling was the business’s financial officer.

The technology behind the business was the senior Roebling’s invention of wire rope, or steel cable, which had far-reaching applications for the transportation, communications and construction industries in a growing America. He chose Trenton as his new location to be close to the Cooper Iron Works business, his major wire supplier, and because of the city’s proximity to railroads, waterways and thriving East Coast markets.

John Roebling is best remembered for the application of his invention in suspension bridges, culminating in his design of the Brooklyn Bridge. John’s sons, Ferdinand, Washington, and Charles, were all involved in carrying on their father’s business legacy. They incorporated after their father’s ironic death from tetanus poisoning, which he contracted during the early stages of the Brooklyn Bridge’s construction.

Over its lifespan, the Roebling Wire Company/John A. Roebling’s Sons Company supplied steel cable for more than two dozen suspension bridges in the United States, Canada, and South America. The company was sold to the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in 1952, which, in turn, was sold to the Crane Corporation in 1969. All Roebling plants were out of operation by 1974.