notable structural engineers Great Achievements Frank Osborn Nation’s Pioneer Stadium Designer By Richard G. Weingardt, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, F. ACEC lthough mostly known as a football games, including nine of the annual from Calumet High world-class designer and builder Army-Navy contests (Figure 3) between 1913 School. At RPI, he of innovative steel bridges when and 1927. met and quickly he founded his consulting engi- In 2007, when Frank and his son Kenneth befriended George neering firm in 1892, it was not long before were both inducted into the exclusive Alumni Ferris (1859-1896), Figure 1: Frank C. A Osborn. Courtesy of Frank Chittenden Osborn (Figure 1) greatly Hall of Fame of Rensselaer Polytechnic a bright, daring and Men of Ohio in 1900, expanded his practice to include the design Institute (RPI) at the same time, spokesperson self-assured 17-year-® Benesch Publishing. of a wide array of structures, not the least of Jeff Schanz said, “They were entrepreneurs, old from Carson City, them being large-scale sports facilities. By the innovators, opportunity-recognizers, risk- Nevada. Although more than a year apart beginning of the 20th century, his company’s takers and outstanding engineers. Their in age and raised in vastly different styles reputation for engineering such structures experience in structural steel and concrete and parts of the country, Frank and George was so stellar that Osborn Engineering was enabled major cities and colleges alike to pro- had much in common. For one, both were known as “stadium designers for the nation.” vide modern,Copyright safe stadiums for a new era of active in the Chi Phi fraternity and the Pi Eta One of the firm’s most conspicuous stadiums, professional and collegiate athletics. They’re Scientific Society. In fact, they were enthusi- nearing completion at the time of his death, an inspiration to us all, and their legacy of astic founders of Chi Phi at RPI, attracting was the original (Figure 2) excellence shines brightly on every Rensselaer a Theta chapter there in 1878. The Osborns, in New York City, which debuted in 1922 student and alumnus.” like the Ferrises, arrived in America in the early and soon acquired the nickname, “the house Born on December 18, 1857, in Maple 1600s, and both families qualified as Sons and that Ruth built.” Grove, Michigan, in the northwestern sec- Daughters of the American Revolution blue In addition to this New York icon, early tion of the state where it fronts Lake Superior, bloods. Early in their careers, the two RPI Osborn-designed Major League Baseball Frank was the middle son of Reuben and graduates were found working for the same stadiums included Forbes Field, Pittsburgh Livonia (Chittenden) Osborn. His father companies and living in the same cities. Later (1909); , Cleveland (1910); Reuben was senior physician for the Calumet in their careers, both had thriving engineering , Chicago (1910); Griffith- andmagazine Hecla Mining Company and a promi- businesses only 115 miles apart, Osborn in National Park, Washington,S DC (1911);T Rnent member U of theC Calumet, T Michigan U Cleveland R and EFerris in Pittsburgh. , Boston (1912); Tiger-Navin community, serving terms as town clerk and Immediately after receiving his civil engineer- Field, Detroit (1912); and , as treasurer – and also as a leading school offi- ing degree from RPI in the spring of 1880, Boston (1915). Also engineered by Osborn’s cial for thirty years. He was vice-president of Osborn entered the service of the Louisville group, with Henry Herts as architect, was the Merchants and Miners Bank of Calumet Bridge and Iron Company in Louisville, the 1911 in New York, the and director of Farmdale Land and Livestock Kentucky, as assistant engineer. Four months sixth concrete and steel stadium built for Company. In the late 1870s, while his son later and just before his marriage on October the Majors (and the second in the National Frank was in college at RPI in Troy, New York, 27, 1880 to Annie Paull in Calumet, he was League behind Forbes Field). In addition to Reuben served as an influential Michigan advanced to principal assistant engineer with being home to baseball’s New York Giants, the state senator. more responsibilities. The Osborns would have stadium’s large number of spectator-friendly Frank entered Rensselaer in September two sons, the younger of whom died at birth. outfield seats also made it well-suited for 1876 after graduating with high marks Their older son, Kenneth Howard Osborn

Figure 2: Original Yankee Stadium. Courtesy of BuickCenturyDriver/Wikipedia. Figure 3: Army-Navy football game at Polo Grounds. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs ppmsca.19488.

STRUCTURE magazine61 March 2013 As a leading member of Ferris’s company, which specialized in the inspection and design of major structural steel works around the country, Osborn was mentor and role model to many of the newly hired young RPI-educated engineers employed by Ferris. Included was William Gronau (1866-1924), a fast-learning engineer who would one day Figure 4: Postcard of Central Bridge, be the lead analyst for the giant, history-mak- Ohio River at Cincinnati. Courtesy of ing wheel Ferris would build for the 1893 Peggy W. Holiday Collection. Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Osborn Figure 5: Notre Dame Stadium. Courtesy (1886-1949), would follow in his father’s foot- trained young Gronau so well that when of Wikimedia Commons/Pgp688. steps and study civil engineering at RPI. After Osborn left the firm in 1889, Gronau took graduating and working briefly for a couple his place as the engineer “in charge of design types of major structural steel projects, the firm of other engineering organizations, Kenneth of bridge work.” quickly became experts in the use of reinforced joined his father in his flourishing consulting Osborn left Ferris to become chief engineer concrete as a major® construction element. With business. Before long, he would become heav- for the King Bridge Company in Cleveland, the nation sinking into the throes of a great ily involved in the firm’s expanding stadium one of the country’s most rapidly emerging recession initiated by the worldwide Panic of design practice and be responsible for many large bridge builders. The King Company 1892, it was a testy time to be establishing a of its high-profile projects. had just won the bid to build the Central new company. However, Osborn boldly went In 1885, a year before Kenneth was born, Bridge over the Ohio River (Figure 4) near ahead with his plans. At the start, what allowed Osborn left Louisville Bridge and Iron to become Cincinnati, Ohio,Copyright a Ferris Company-designed him to survive was his ability to diversify and principal assistant engineer with Keystone structure. One of Osborn’s first assignments engineer a wide array of project types using Bridge Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with King was to complete the detailed shop different structural materials and systems. His a steel building company founded in 1865 by drawings for the bridge, then supervise its pioneering work with reinforced concrete, in Andrew Carnegie, the world’s second-richest construction. Once the project was com- particular, coincided with the rapid replace- man. Two years later, in 1887, Osborn was pleted, Osborn was ready to move on. ment of fire-prone wooden sports stadiums working for and a principal in Ferris’s flourishing In 1892, 34-year-old Osborn founded Osborn with fire-resistive structures. engineering firm, G. W. G. Ferris and Company, Engineering Company based in Cleveland. Among Osborn’s early consulting projects headquartered in Pittsburgh. Initially established to design and consult on all were numerous bridges for cities and counties, S T RADVERTISEMENTmagazine U - For Advertiser Information,C visit www.STRUCTUREmag.orgT U R E

STRUCTURE magazine62 March 2013 STRUCTURE magazine plus sundry railroads scattered around the the forerunner to today’s popular AISC Steel country. Of particular note was the Y-bridge Construction Manual. Richard G. Weingardt, D.Sc. (h.c.), P.E., over the Licking and Muskingum rivers at After Osborn passed away on January 31, 1922 Dist.M.ASCE, F. ACEC is the Chairman Zanesville, Ohio, which upon its debut was in Cleveland, Ohio at age 64, his son Kenneth of Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc. in the largest reinforced concrete bridge in the continued in leadership at the firm until his Denver, CO. He is the author of ten books, United States. It was labeled the Y-bridge death in 1949. By then, Osborn Engineering’s including Circles in the Sky: The Life and because in plan it formed the shape of the bulging portfolio of noteworthy sports facili- Times of George Ferris and Engineering letter Y; its roadway split into two at the ties included numerous college stadiums for Legends. His latest book, Empire Man, is mid-span of the river in such a way that one several of the nation’s football powerhouses like about Homer Balcom, structural engineer fork of the bridge when crossed was still on Michigan, Notre Dame (Figure 5), Purdue, for the Empire State Building. He can be the same side of the river from which one and the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. reached at [email protected]. started. Another unique Osborn-built bridge Today, the Osborn firm remains the oldest engi- was over the Maumee River at Toledo, Ohio. TAY24253neering company BraceYrslfStrctrMag.qxd in Cleveland.▪ 9/3/09 10:09 AM Page 1 It featured seven large reinforced concrete arches, together with a 200-foot-long steel bascule span. ® In addition to innovative bridges, YOU BUILD IT. Osborn engineered countless state-of- WE’LL PROTECT IT. the-art steel frames and roof trusses in conjunction with architects for large buildings, armories, hotels and other SEISMIC PROTECTION facilities. Of note were nine Portland FROMCopyright TAYLOR DEVICES cement plants with a producing capac- ity of 17,000 barrels of cement a day, a Stand firm. Don’t settle for less than the seismic protection dazzling feat at the time. Also completed of Taylor Fluid Viscous Dampers. As a world leader in by Osborn’s company was a sprawling the science of shock isolation, we are the team you complex containing several buildings for want between your structure and the undeniable forces the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of nature. Others agree. Taylor Fluid Viscous Dampers at Akron, Ohio. Noteworthy Cleveland are currently providing earthquake, wind, and motion buildings were the Union Club, Public protection on more than 240 buildings and bridges.

Hall, Music Hall and Gray’s Armory. From the historic Los Angeles City Hall to Mexico’s visit www.STRUCTUREmag.orgADVERTISEMENT Information, - For Advertiser Professionally, Osborn was active in sev- Torre Mayor and the new Shin-Yokohama High-speed eral technical societies including ASCE, magazineTrain Station in Japan, owners, architects, engineers, the Institution of Civil EngineersS of GreatT Rand contractorsU trustC the provenT U R E Britain, ASTM, Cleveland Engineering technology of Taylor Devices’ Society and American Railway Bridge Fluid Viscous Dampers. and Building Association. In the Civil Engineer’s Club of Cleveland, he was a director, secretary, vice-president and president. He was on the management board of the Association of Engineering Societies and, for three years (1901-03), was a national director of ASCE. He also served several years on the Cuyahoga County Building Commission. His non-engineering activities included being a director of the Lake Shore Banking and Savings Company and a vice presi- dent of the American Art Stone Company. He was also active in the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, Masonic Club, Taylor Devices’ Fluid Viscous Dampers give you the seismic protection University Club, Cleveland Athletic Club you need and the architectural freedom you want. and Chippewa Club. Osborn was the author of the popular engi- www.taylordevices.com neering handbook Osborn’s Tables of Moments of Inertia and Squares of Radii of Gyration, which featured working strengths of steel

members, timber beams and columns, North Tonawanda, NY 14120 - 0748 and standard loads, unit stresses and con- Phone: 716.694.0800 • Fax: 716.695.6015 stants for a variety of structures. The book quickly became a much-used industry text,

March 2013 STRUCTURE TAY24253magazine Brace 63Yourself March Ad Structure 2013 Magazine October 2009 Half-Page Island 5" x 7.5"