Leffert Lefferts Buck (February 5, 1837 – July 7, 1909) was an American

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and a pioneer in the use of steel arch bridge structures.

Career

Leffert graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1863. After his graduation from St. Lawrence, Buck enlisted and fought for the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

under

General Slocum The PS ''General Slocum''"PS" stands for "Paddle Steamer" was a sidewheel passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collision ...

, participating in the battles at

Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union ...

, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg,

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-centu ...

Missionary Ridge Missionary Ridge is a geographic feature in Chattanooga, Tennessee, site of the Battle of Missionary Ridge, a battle in the American Civil War, fought on November 25, 1863. Union forces under Maj. Gens. Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, a ...

Peachtree Creek Peachtree Creek is a major stream in Atlanta. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 almost due west into the Chattahoochee River just south of Vin ...

, Resaca and Ringgold Gap. Following the completion of the Civil War, Buck earned his civil engineering degree from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

in Troy, New York, in 1868. He was associated with Richard Buck, also a prominent bridge engineer. Some of his projects include: * The Verrugas Viaduct on the Oroya Railroad in Peru (in the early 1870s) * The

Whirlpool Rapids Bridge The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, commonly known as the Whirlpool Bridge or the Lower Steel Arch Bridge (before 1937), is a spandrel braced, riveted, two-hinged arch bridge that crosses the international border between Canada and the United States, con ...

over the

Niagara Gorge Niagara Gorge is an long canyon carved by the Niagara River along the Canada–United States border, between the U.S. state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario. It begins at the base of Niagara Falls and ends downriver at the ed ...

. * The

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway ...

, one of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's most notable landmarks, with

Henry Hornbostel Henry Hornbostel (August 15, 1867 – December 13, 1961) was an American architect and educator. Hornbostel designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States. Twenty-two of his designs are listed on the National Regis ...

. At 1,600 feet it was the longest bridge in the world when completed in 1903 and a key factor in opening

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

up as a working-class neighborhood for

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The bridge is well known for its vast reach and massive symmetry. Pont De Rennes Bridge Rochester NY

* The

Pont De Rennes bridge The Pont De Rennes bridge is located in the Brown's Race Historic District of Rochester New York at the base of the High Falls where it spans the Genesee River. The Pont De Rennes bridge formerly carried Platt Street over the river but was conv ...

(former Platt Street bridge) that spans the

Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...

in Rochester at the High Falls. * Engineered the

Queensboro Bridge The Queensboro Bridge, officially named the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens with the Upper East ...

in New York City. Buck served as president of the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. Buck died on July 7, 1909, in Hastings, New York. His widow, Mira Gould Buck, died in

Eastview, New York Eastview (or East View) is a business district and former hamlet in Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately 25 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. It was primarily residential, and had a post office, railr ...

, in 1946 at the age of 84.

Legacy

A dormitory in the Quadrangle complex at Rensselaer is named after him.

References

External links

RPI: Alumni Hall of Fame: Leffert L. Buck
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buck, Leffert L. 1837 births 1909 deaths American civil engineers Bridge engineers Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni