Engineering in American Society: 1850–1875

University of Kentucky UKnowledge History of Science, Technology, and Medicine History 1969 Engineering in American Society: 1850–1875 Raymond H. Merritt University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Merritt, Raymond H., "Engineering in American Society: 1850–1875" (1969). History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. 8. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_history_of_science_technology_and_medicine/8 Engineering in American Society 1850-1875 This page intentionally left blank Engmeering in American Society Raymond H.Mewitt The Ut~iversityPress of Kentucky Standard Book Number 8131-1 189-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 71-94068 Copyright @ 1969 by the University Press of Kentucky A statewide cooperative scholarly publishing agency serving Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky State College, Morehead State University, Murray State University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Ofices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506 This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface ix 1: The Functional Professional 1 2: The Functional Intellectual 27 3: The Professional Executives 63 4: The Cosmopolitan 88 5: The Manipulators of Nature 1x0 6: The Metropolitan 136 7: Engineering and Urbanization 1 57 Bibliographical Essay 177 Index 189 This page intentionally left blank Preface Visitors to the United States in the nineteenth century attributed America's growing strength and power to such factors as an open society, the separation of church and state, Yankee ingenuity, an emphasis on education, a democratic tradition, a liberal immi- gration policy, a freewheeling economic system, a frontier experi- ence, the presence of abundant natural resources, and the absence of foreign domination. In the twentieth century most visitors are impressed primarily with one factor: the advanced state of Ameri- can technology. This study began as a search into the nineteenth- century origins of American industrial and technological leadership. At first I assumed that the source of technology resided in science, but soon discovered that scientists were a small group in the nineteenth century, rather removed from the mainstream of American life. Architectural periodicals of the time reveal that nineteenth- century builders had a limited knowledge of advanced technology and cared little about new materials and methods of construction. Architects were caught up instead with the unsettled winds of romanticism that blew the ancient traditions of Greece, Rome, Egypt, and medieval France to American shores. Turning next to the inventors, I discovered a group of interesting personalities who were making many changes in the gadgets and machinery of everyday life, but their contributions alone did not explain the technological revolution. Consequently, the question was reversed and I sought the factors rather than the men who caused the greatest changes in nineteenth-century life and found them to be in the areas of time and space: transportation and communication. Narrowing the search to the men responsible for creating the railroads, the canals, the telegraph system, the tunnels, the harbor improvements, the steam engines, the bridges, it appeared to me that engineers were the managers of this great transformation. In the subsequent period of my research the materials began to reveal a familiar story. Engineers were involved x Preface in an educational process, committed to a cosmopolitan perspective, and instrumental in the managerial revolution, while the results of their work influenced the advancement of American civilization and the growth of urbanization, and enhanced their own professional status. The information relating to these areas formed the basic chapters of the following study. The technological revolution had its leaders; they were well trained, well organized, and very successful in fulfilling their utilitarian dreams. In fact, they were so successful that most historians have concentrated on what was accomplished, rather than how it was done or who produced it. Of course, the engineers did not bring about the technological revolution by themselves, but their part in it is perhaps worth a closer look. The research and writing of this book would not have been attempted or sustained without the counsel and encouragement of Professor Timothy L. Smith, who guided the manuscript through many stages of revision and reorganization. His remark- able capacities as an adviser and editor are reflected on every page. I am also indebted to Professors David Noble and Mary Turpie, two excellent members of the American Studies Program at the University of Minnesota, who advised and encouraged me in my study. Many libraries and archives aided my research. I owe special thanks to Robert Vogel of the Smithsonian Institution, Russell Trudell of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Samuel Wil- liams of Stevens Institute of Technology, Robert W. Lovett and Mrs. Eleanor C. Bishop of Baker Library, Harvard, the members of the History and Heritage Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and Professor Richard Darr, who let me use his Nashua and Lowell notes. Financial aid for travel was provided by a University of Minnesota Graduate School Grant and by a generous sum from President Alvin Rogness of Luther Theological Seminary. To my own dean at North Dakota State University, Seth Russell, I owe special thanks for providing me with time and money for the final preparation of the manuscript. Mrs. David Nelson performed yeoman service in typing the manuscript and Mrs. Charles Metzger graciously consented to proofread the final Preface xi copy. Finally this study is dedicated to my wife, LaDonna, who with tact and love has successfully kept family and household alive and healthy while her husband spent fourteen years attending lectures, habituating libraries, collecting data, and preparing the copy for this study. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AFP Albert Fink Papers, Library of Congress, Wash- ington, D.C. CFC Charles F. Chandler Papers, Columbia Univer- sity, New York, N.Y. ELC Elmer L. Corthell Papers, New York Public Library, New York, N.Y. JAR Hezekiah Bissell Papers, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. HBP John A. Roebling Papers, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. JEP John Ericsson Papers, New York Historical Soci- ety, New York, N.Y. OCP Octave Chanute Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. RLS Robert L. Stanton Papers, New York Public Li- brary, New York, N.Y. SNP Samuel Nott Papers, Baker Library, Harvard University, Boston, Mass. WAR Washington A. Roebling Papers, Rutgers Uni- versity, New Brunswick, N.J. WRH William R. Hutton Papers, Smithsonian Institu- tion, Washington, D.C. 1: The Functional Professional Nathaniel Hawthorne published in 1843 an ironic revision of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, which he entitled The Celestial Rail- road. In Hawthorne's version technology had changed the danger- ous and difficult journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial metropolis. The guide was no longer Evangelist, but Mr. Smooth-it-away, a corporation executive. Casting aside the classical traditions of education, engineers had spanned the Slough of Despond with a bridge of "elegant construction" erected on principles of mathematics and physics. Through the Hill of Difficulty they had constructed a tunnel while the gaseous products of the Valley of the Shadow of Death flowed through a system of pipes to bring sunshine and light where once a "sulphurous curse" rested upon the land. A steam ferryboat waited to transport the nineteenth-century pilgrim across the dreaded river. Hawthorne placed the nineteenth-century pilgrim in an urban age. The celestial values of Bunyan7s time had been modified by the terrestrial technology of Hawthorne's era. Industrial progress attempted to smooth away the burdens of human existence by the use of mechanical power. The new technology modified the agrarian evils that Bunyan's Christian had confronted in the forests, deserts, rivers, valleys, and mountains. Man no longer lived in isolation and loneliness; transportation and communication had eliminated the barriers of time and space which had always separated human communities. The journey of life had become a pleasant trip surrounded by metropolitan influences. Hawthorne's insight into the midnineteenth century was not unique. Many of his contemporaries observed that technology had become a cultural force that was modifying traditional Anglo- Saxon institutions, the natural environment, and the Jeffersonian vision of America. Before 1850 technological development and the manufacture of power had been in the hands of isolated individuals and some private c0mpanies.l After 1850 professional 2 Engineering in American Society societies, quasi-governmental corporations, and advanced centers of learning promoted a rapid utilization of machines, tools, and industrial technology, which initiated profound changes in Ameri- can economic, political, and social life.2 The technological revolution introduced the corporation, accelerated urbanization, and opened

Load more