Henry Wilson Hodge
{{Short description|American civil engineer (1865–1919)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Henry Wilson Hodge
| image = Henry Wilson Hodge (April 14, 1865 - December 21, 1919) circa 1915.jpg
| caption = Hodge {{circa|1915}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1865|4|14}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1919|12|21|1865|4|14}}
| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| death_place = New York, New York, U.S.
| placeofburial = Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| allegiance = United States
| branch = Army
| serviceyears = 1917–1919
| rank = Colonel
| commands = {{ubl|Manager of Roads|Assistant Chief Engineer|Director of Railroads}}
| battles = World War I
| relations =
| laterwork =
| module = {{Infobox officeholder
|embed = yes
|office = Public Service Commission of New York City
|term_start =
|term_end =
}}}}
Colonel Henry Wilson Hodge (April 14, 1865 – December 21, 1919) was an American civil engineer and bridge designer. He co-founded the engineering firm Boller & Hodges with Alfred P. Boller, designed numerous bridges in multiple countries, and constructed steel buildings including the Woolworth Building, the Singer Building, and the Cunard Building in New York City. He served on the Public Service Commission for New York City from 1916 to 1917 and as a colonel in the U.S. Army during World War I, where he had responsibility for all railroad structures for the American Expeditionary Forces in France.
Early life and education
Born on April 14, 1865, in Washington, D.C., he was the son of John Ledyard Hodge and Susan Savage Wilson.{{cite encyclopedia |author=James Terry White |author-link=James Terry White |encyclopedia=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |title=Henry Wilson Hodge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPQpAQAAMAAJ&q=Henry+Wilson+Hodge |year=1927 |access-date=November 23, 2013 }} He was educated at Young's Private School in Washington, D.C., and joined a surveying party for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the mountains of West Virginia at the age of 15. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1885.{{cite book |title=Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume 46, Part 1 |date=1920 |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineering |pages=701–705 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FgFFAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA701 |access-date=April 4, 2022}} He received a Doctor of Engineers degree from Rensselaer in 1918.{{cite book |title=The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volumes 14-17 |date=May 1920 |publisher=Princeton Theological Seminary |location=Princeton, NJ |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7axJAAAAYAAJ |access-date=April 5, 2022}}
Engineering career
Hodge began his career at the Phoenix Bridge Company and worked there for six years. In 1891, he worked as the chief engineer of the Union Iron Works in New York City; two years later, he left Union Iron Works and worked as an independent engineering consultant. In 1895, he began working for Alfred P. Boller and, in 1899, co-founded the engineering firm Boller & Hodge with his former boss. The firm expanded with the addition of Howard C. Baird and became Boller, Hodge & Baird.{{cite book |title=The Street Railway Journal |date=1916 |publisher=McGraw Publishing Company, Inc. |location=New York |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DxdJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA107 |access-date=April 7, 2022}} After the death of Boller in 1912, the firm was renamed Hodge and Baird.
He designed the bridges for multiple railroad expansions in the United States, including the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad and the Great Northern Railway, as well as all the bridges for the national railroads of Mexico, Brazil, and the Philippines. He designed the cantilever bridges over the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh and over the Ohio River at Steubenville for the Wabash Railroad. He designed three bridges over the Connecticut River, including at Hartford, Old Saybrook, and the East Haddam Swing Bridge. He was hired by the Canadian government as a consulting engineer to help with the design of the Quebec Bridge.
He worked for a while as president of Porterfield Construction Company.{{cite web |title=Col. H.W. Hodge, Engineer Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99391014/col-h-w-hodge-engineer-dies/ |page=12|date=December 22, 1919|work=Times-Union|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 10, 2022}} He was the engineer for construction of the Woolworth Building, the Singer Building, the Cunard Building, and other buildings in New York City.{{cite book |title=The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volumes 14-17 |date=May 1920 |publisher=Princeton Theological Seminary |location=Princeton, NJ |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7axJAAAAYAAJ |access-date=April 5, 2022}} He advised and consulted on multiple projects; in January 1916, he accepted a position on the Public Service Commission of New York City to supervise the construction of subway system expansions. After his return from service in World War I, he was a member of the Board of Consulting Engineers for the New York and New Jersey Vehicular Tunnel.{{cite book |title=The Bulletin of the General Contractors Association, Volume 11 |date=January 1920 |publisher=The General Contractors Association |page=50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cDgxAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA50 |access-date=April 6, 2022}}
Military career
Around 1891, Hodge joined the 7th Regiment of the New York National Guard and subsequently received a commission to the Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps. When the U.S. entered World War I, Hodges resigned from the Public Service Commission and sailed to France in July 1917 at the rank of major. He served on General Pershing's staff as director of military railroads{{cite book |last1=Colby |first1=Frank Moore |title=The New International Year Book |date=1920 |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company |location=New York |page=329 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1tMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA329 |access-date=April 7, 2022}} for the American Expeditionary Force and was placed in charge of railroad structures for the U.S. Army in France. He also served as manager of roads and as assistant chief engineer in charge of military bridges.
He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on October 16, 1917, and to colonel on August 13, 1918. He returned to the United States and was honorably discharged on January 22, 1919.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal posthumously.{{cite book |title=Armed Forces Journal |date=1924 |publisher=Army and Navy Journal, Incorporated |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eWkabpbVGaEC&pg=PA83 |access-date=April 7, 2022}}
Professional memberships
He served on the boards of control for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York University and Princeton Theological Seminary. He served as Director of the Knickerbocker Hospital.{{cite book |title=Reports, Constitution, By-Laws and List of Members of the Century Association for the Year 1920 |year=1920 |publisher=The Knickerbocker Press |location=New York |page=38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VPATAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA38 |access-date=April 5, 2022}} In 1914, he became a member of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.{{cite book |title=The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volumes 14-17 |date=May 1920 |publisher=Princeton Theological Seminary |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=17–18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7axJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA17 |access-date=April 5, 2022}}
Hodge was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Consulting Engineers, and the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers.{{cite book |title=The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Volumes 14-17 |date=May 1920 |publisher=Princeton Theological Seminary |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=8–9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7axJAAAAYAAJ |access-date=April 5, 2022}}
Personal life and final years
File:Henry Wilson Hodge grave.jpg]]
He married Sarah Cunningham Mills, aka Sarah Mills Hodge,{{cite web |title=If We Forget, Who Will Remember? |url=https://savannahherald.net/if-we-forget-who-will-remember-p1322-1.htm |website=savannahherald.net |access-date=April 10, 2022}} on December 14, 1897, in Savannah, Georgia.
After his return from France, Hodge's health began to decline. He died in New York City on December 21, 1919, of an embolism{{cite news |title=Col. H. W. Hodge Dead. Noted Bridge Engineer Succumbs To Embolism In New York. Relatives Hear The News. He Was Director Of Railroads For The A. E. F. When The Armistice Was Signed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/12/22/archives/noted-engineer-hw-hodge-dies-builder-of-skyscrapers-and-bridges-iii.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=December 23, 1919 |access-date=November 23, 2013 }} and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.
References
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Category:19th-century American engineers
Category:20th-century American engineers
Category:American bridge engineers
Category:American railway civil engineers
Category:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)
Category:Engineers from Washington, D.C.
Category:Military personnel from Washington, D.C.
Category:New York National Guard personnel
Category:New York University people
Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Category:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni