William Howe (architect)
{{Short description|American architect and bridge builder}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = William Howe
| image = File:William Howe by Otis H. Cooley, c. 1850, daguerreotype, from the National Portrait Gallery - NPG-NPG 2008 58HoweM-000002.jpg
| alt = Photograph of a man facing left, with chin beard and longish hair
| caption = William Howe
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1803|05|12}}
| birth_place = Spencer, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1852|09|19|1803|05|12}}
| death_place = Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| occupation = Architect, engineer
| known_for =
}}
William Howe (May 12, 1803 – September 19, 1852) was an American architect and bridge builder famous for patenting the Howe truss design for bridges in 1840.{{citation|title=Covered Bridges of Washington County TR / Buskirk, Rexleigh, Eagleville, and Shushan Covered Bridges|url={{NRHP url|id=64000546}} |format=pdf|date=December 1977 |author=Raymond W. Smith |publisher=National Park Service}}
Life and career
William Howe was born on May 12, 1803, in Spencer, Massachusetts,{{sfn|Johnson|1879|page=360}} to Elijah and Fanny ({{nee}} Bemis) Howe.{{sfn|Allen|1943|page=23}} His father owned a sawmill,{{sfn|Hendrickson|2015|page=443}} He was a hard-working child, and learned carpentry and construction at an early age. After successfully completing an apprenticeship in carpentry, he enrolled and graduated from Leicester Academy in Leicester, Massachusetts.{{sfn|Johnson|1879|page=360}}
Howe married Azubah Stone, daughter of a Charlton, Massachusetts, farmer (and sister of Amasa Stone) in 1828.{{sfn|Daughters of the American Revolution|1898|page=24}} The Howe family was an inventive one. Howe's nephew, Elias Howe, patented the first viable sewing machine. Howe's older brother, Tyler Howe, invented the box spring bed.{{cite journal|url=http://www.structuremag.org/?p=7599|last=Griggs|first=Frank Jr.|title=Springfield Bridge for Western Railroad|journal=Structure|date=November 2014|access-date=January 19, 2016}} William Howe established a career as a construction contractor, building homes and churches. He was particularly well-known for his churches.{{sfn|Johnson|1879|page=360}} But bridges were his primary interest, and he founded the Howe Bridge Works in 1840.{{sfn|Knoblock|2012|page=60}}
In 1840, Howe was engaged to build a railroad bridge over the Connecticut River in Springfield, Massachusetts. This famous bridge was of a new, influential design—the Howe truss bridge, which Howe patented in 1840. One of Howe's workmen, Amasa Stone, purchased for $40,000{{sfn|Haddad|2007|page=3}} (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|40000|1840}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars) in 1842 the rights to Howe's patented bridge design. (Amasa Stone received financial backing from Azariah Boody, a Springfield businessman.){{cite journal|last=Gasparini|first=Dario|title=Historic Bridge News|journal=Society for Industrial Archeology Newsletter|date=Winter 2003|page=14|url=http://www.industrialarchaeology.net/sian/images/sianv32/sianv321.pdf|access-date=January 19, 2016}} The rights to the patent extended to bridges and structures erected only in New England.{{sfn|Haddad|2007|page=3}} That same year, the two men formed a bridge-building firm, Boody, Stone & Co.,{{sfn|Johnson|1879|page=384}} which erected a large number of Howe truss bridges throughout New England.{{sfn|Haddad|2007|page=3}}
Howe made additional improvements, and patented a second Howe truss design in 1846.{{sfn|Johnson|1879|page=360}}
William Howe suffered a severe carriage accident and died on September 19, 1852. He was buried in Springfield.{{sfn|Allen|1943|page=23}}
References
{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFHaddad2007}}
{{Reflist|2}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book|last=Allen|first=Richard Sanders|title=Covered Bridge Topics|location=Holliston, Mass.|publisher=National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges|date=1943}}
- {{cite book|author=Daughters of the American Revolution|title=Lineage Book|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution|date=1898|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OysijLuhS8UC&q=%22Amasa+Stone%22+Esther&pg=PA339}}
- {{cite news|last=Epler|first=Percy H.|title=Little Visits to the Home's of Worcester County's Famous Sons and Daughters|work=The Worcester Magazine Illustrated|date=January 1911|pages=349–357|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HUWAAAAYAAJ&q=Tyler%20Howe%20born%201800&pg=PR5}}
- {{Haddad-Mather}}
- {{cite book|last=Hendrickson|first=Kenneth E.|title=The Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in World History|location=Lanham, Md.|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2015|isbn=9780810888883|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EdwsCgAAQBAJ}}
- {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Crisfield|title=History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio: With Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers|location=Philadelphia|publisher=D.W. Ensign|date=1879|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcuyahog00john}}
- {{cite book|last=Knoblock|first=Glenn A.|title=Historic Iron and Steel Bridges in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont|location=Jefferson, N.C.|publisher=McFarland & Company|date=2012|isbn=9780786448432|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfT_gjoqnAEC}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, William}}
Category:People from Spencer, Massachusetts