John James Robertson Croes

John James Robertson Croes (born November 25, 1834 in Richmond, Virginia , † March 17, 1906 in Yonkers ) was an American civil engineer who was chairman of the American Society of Civil Engineers from 1901 .

Career

He was the son of Robert B. Croes, a clergyman with the Protestant Episcopal Church and in turn the youngest son of John Croes , first bishop of New Jersey . John James Robertson Croes' maternal grandfather was James Robertson, a Philadelphia banker who was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate . Croes attended St. James School, Maryland in Hagerstown, Maryland , where he graduated in 1853 with a degree in arts and civil engineering.

After graduating from college, he worked for several years on the staff of the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company and then helped build the Ridgewood Reservoir in Queens for the Brooklyn Waterworks under James P. Kirkwood .

In 1860, Alfred W. Craven , chief engineer of the Croton Aqueduct , appointed him chief assistant to General George S. Greene for the design of the New Central Park reservoir of the Croton waterworks , the installation of the great pipe on the High Bridge in New York City and Croes other parts of the Croton Waterworks extension. When General Greene was called into the Civil War , Croes became site manager.

The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir was built as the Central Park Reservoir of the Croton Waterworks.

Until 1890 the drinking water was obtained from the Croton Distributing Reservoir.

In 1863 he worked as an assistant engineer at the Washington Aqueduct in the Home Office (later Bureau of Reclamation ) and was responsible for the completion of the Cabin John Bridge , the line and the Great Falls Dam.

In 1865 he was busy with investigations for a new water supply for Cincinnati and after the Civil War on June 23, 1865 with port improvements in St. Louis under James P. Kirkwood .

In December 1865 he returned to New York to carry out studies on the construction of drinking water reservoirs in the catchment area of ​​the Croton River . The Boyds Corner Reservoir was the first concrete - dam built in the United States and was one of the results of Mr. Croes study on the Croton Watershed in northern Westchester County and Putnam County (New York) . Until 1870 Croes was involved in the planning of the dam, then William Tweed dominated the action at Croton Aqueduct . In 1872, Croes submitted a study to the American Society of Civil Engineers entitled "Memoir of the Construction of a Masonry Dam", received the first Norman Medal, and the society decided to award it annually and name it after him. Memoir of the Construction of a Masonry Dam,

The Boyds Corner Reservoir was created by the first concrete dam in the United States. Croes was involved in the conception of the Croton Watershed .

On January 10, 1874, New York City incorporated part of South Yonkers as the 23rd and 24th Districts that later became the West Bronx . The Board of Commissiones of the Department of Public Parks named Croes a civil and topographical engineer and Frederick Law Olmsted a landscape architect to design roads and parks for the area. By 1877 he made land-use planning for 13,000 hectares. Until 1891 he was chief engineer for the construction of one of the proposed lines, the Suburban Rapid Transit Company , which built its elevated road in 1883.

As a consulting engineer, he was commissioned with projects for the water supply of Sewark and Syracuse, New York , two reports on the water supply of New York City , the planning and construction of waterworks in Indianapolis , services for express transport commissions.

He also compiled and edited The Statistical Tables of American Waterworks, which has become a well-known reference work in America.

Croes was elected a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1867 , director in 1876, treasurer from 1877 to 1887, vice president in 1888 and president of this society in 1901, member of other American societies associated with waterworks and public health.

In 1895 he was appointed by the Governor of New York to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission , where he advised on the creation of the park. He also worked on the design of streets and parks in northern Manhattan.

Croes was active until a few days before his death, most recently as an engineer at Lake Carnegie (New Jersey) and Bridges at Princeton University in New Jersey .

literature

• Croes, John James Robertson. In: The National cyclopaedia of American biography. Vol. 6. James T. White & Company, New York 1892, p. 46 ( online ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ gracesguide.co , [1]
2. ↑ John James Robertson Croes, Memoir of the Construction of a Masonry Dam, [2]
3. ↑ aqueduct.org, [3] ; American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, [4]