Soon after her graduation, Wilson began working at ISU, first as an assistant in the school's drafting room and then was promoted as an instructor the following year. In 1895, she collaborated on a project with a professor, Anson Marston, which was the first elevated steel
water tower to be constructed west of the
Mississippi. The tower, which became known as the
Marston Water Tower, was completed in 1897. After finishing the project, Wilson took a winter course in
hydraulics at
Cornell University and returned to teaching physics at ISU. During her summer breaks, she worked with Alda in
Chicago with the firm of
Patton & Miller, doing drafting work and for the next two winter breaks, she studied at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology earning a graduate degree. She returned to work at ISU as an assistant professor of physics and began publishing several articles in the
Iowa Engineer about testing cement formulas. Most of the courses she taught focused on civil engineering and dealt with structures. In the fall of 1903, Wilson and her sister Alda took a sabbatical to study engineering and architectural designs in Europe. Traveling mostly on bicycles, they visited England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Scotland and Switzerland. Upon their return to the states in 1904, Wilson resigned from her post at ISU and sought private employment in
New York City with the James E. Brooks Company. Her first assignment with the firm was at the Essex Structural Steel Works in
Bloomfield, New Jersey. In 1906, she began working on publications with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture and a brochure entitled
Modern Conveniences for the Farm Home was serialized in several newspapers nationally. Articles included topics such as piping water
pumped by a windmill throughout rural homes or adding bathtubs serviced by water pumped from elevated tanks in an attic or
pneumatic cylinders installed in basements, The following year, Wilson joined the prestigious engineering firm of Purdy and Henderson, leaders in
skyscraper design, where she began work on the
Flatiron Building and later worked on the
Met Life Tower. In December 1907, the sisters sailed aboard the
White Star Line's ship
Adriatic, returning to Europe to spend six months studying architecture in France and Spain. Returning home, they worked together on the design of a residence in Ames, Iowa for W. J. Freed and his daughter Kittie. In 1911, Wilson served as president of the New York Chapter of the Pi Beta Phi Alumni Club. Then she was hired as a structural designer in 1912 by the John Severn Brown Company. In 1913, the sisters planned another trip, to study for eight months in Germany, Italy, and Sicily. In 1915, the sisters jointly worked on architectural and engineering drawings for the Teachers Cottage, also known as Helmich House, in
Gatlinburg, Tennessee at the
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Wilson applied for membership along with
Nora Blatch in the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), but was rejected. Blatch later sued the organization to attain membership. The sisters were involved with the Manhattan Woman's Suffrage Club, for which Elmina served as president, coming in contact with national leaders like
Susan B. Anthony,
Carrie Chapman Catt and
Eleanor Roosevelt. Due to their Iowa ties and suffrage involvement, the Wilson sisters became personal friends with Catt, for whom Alda would later become a companion and secretary. Wilson died on June 4, 1918, in New York City and was buried there. ==Projects==