On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to the public, celebrated by a grand procession that included President Chester A. Arthur crossing the newly completed structure. An incredible layer to this engineering triumph is that the bridge was ultimately completed through the tireless work of a woman largely hidden from the public eye. When the chief engineer, Washington Roebling, became permanently bedridden with decompression sickness from working in the underwater caissons, his wife, Emily Warren Roebling, took charge of day-to-day oversight. For more than a decade, she studied higher mathematics, inspected materials, carried messages to construction bosses, and effectively performed many of the functions of chief engineer, even though she never held the formal title. She became the first person to cross the completed bridge on opening day while carrying a rooster as a symbol of victory.