Carl von Wagner

Carl Freiherr von Wagner

Carl Freiherr von Wagner (born March 1, 1843 in Tharandt ; † December 26, 1907 in Dresden ) was a civil engineer in the USA and Mexico .

His parents were the royal Saxon chief forester Carl von Wagner (* May 7, 1808 - May 9, 1855) and his wife Cölestine Sisson (* September 19, 1813 - February 28, 1875).

Carl Freiherr von Wagner studied civil engineering at the Dresden Polytechnic from 1859 to 1862 . Together with his fellow student Carl Theodor Albrecht , he founded the Freischlagendeverbindungen Polyhymnia , from which the Corps Altsachsen later developed.

In 1871 von Wagner founded his own construction company in Chicago / USA , which dealt with the construction of railway bridges and the development of new railway lines. In 1882 he left his company and followed the call of the government of Mexico , which made him head of the Mexico City Building Department. Less than a year later he put together a construction expedition to build a railroad through the isthmus of Tehuantepec . Since the expedition in the jungle was ravaged by cholera and malaria , there were considerable delays in the construction project. It was not until 1888 that von Wagner was able to implement his plans and for the first time connected the Pacific Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico by a railway line.

In addition, von Wagner realized 27 additional railway lines and 5 bridges in Mexico and was also a consultant for US construction companies.

It was only after 27 years abroad that von Wagner returned to Dresden as a privateer , where he died in 1907. His grave is in the Trinity cemetery .

literature

• Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of baronial houses, 1893, forty-third year, p.1017

Web links

• Biography of Baron Carl von Wagner on the website of the Corps Altsachsen Dresden ( Memento from August 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of baronial houses, 1863, p.1010