Zenas King (May 1, 1818 – 1892) was an American bridge builder. He started his career in 1858 and moved from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio, around 1861. He established a bridge-building works on Wason Street in Cleveland in 1865. King founded the King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Company in 1871. As early as 1878, it was manufacturing many types of truss, combination, and wooden bridges, and by the 1880s it was the largest highway bridge works in the United States. Production moved from Wason Street to larger facilities on Ruskin Avenue in 1888. The company changed its name to the King Bridge Company after his death.

Early life

King was born on May 1, 1818, in Kingston, Vermont, and his father was a farmer. After his father moved to

St. Lawrence County, New York St. Lawrence County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 108,505. The county seat is Canton. The county is named for the Saint Lawrence River, which in turn was named for the Christian saint La ...

, to a new farm, King lived at that farm until he was 21 years old. He moved to

Milan, Ohio Milan ( ) is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Erie County, Ohio, Erie and Huron County, Ohio, Huron counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 1,367 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is best known as the birt ...

, to take contracts for erecting buildings. In 1848, he and C. H. Buck worked in mercantile business for eight years. With his health deteriorating, King became a traveling agent for a

agricultural machinery house. He later became an agent for the

Moseley Iron Bridge and Roof Company __NOTOC__ The Moseley Iron Bridge Company was founded by Thomas William Moseley in Cincinnati, Ohio around 1858 and existed until 1879. Moseley was an engineer, bridge builder, and designer. John Paul Verree used T.W.H. Moseley's designs for his ...

and started studying bridges.

Career

King was an assistant of Thomas William Moseley, who patented the design of a wrought iron tubular bowstring bridge in 1857. King improved upon Moseley's efforts by emphasizing distribution and marketing across the United States. Despite not being trained as an engineer, King knew about the sale and manufacture of boiler plating for farm machinery. He used this knowledge and with the help of a metalworker named Peter Frees, the two of them sent in a patent for a way to improve the bowstring arch form. Their innovation was at first considered to not be groundbreaking enough to receive a patent, but King appealed directly to the commissioner of patents about making a few adjustments to the design which was a success. His bridge types were originally used in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, later being built in almost every U.S. state. Other bridge building companies took notice of his business and entered into the bowstring bridge market; the number of these bridges expanded significantly after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. In 1864, King and Frees split up and King continued to build bridges. In 1871, King founded King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Company. King built a factory in Cleveland next to a main rail line, allowing the bridge pieces to be shipped and assembled quickly. He established agents across the United States who sold the bridges to officials of cities and counties. Each agent received a catalog containing illustrations of the bridges that have already been built, schematics, and plans. King sold almost 100 bridges by 1872 in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

, and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. He later started a headquarters in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

and hired his nephew, George King, as an agent of the company. In 1884, King began to hire graduates from engineering schools, but most of them left the company after a short while. The chief engineer who served the longest was Albert H. Porter, working in 1879 and then again from 1886 to 1903. In the 1880s, King employed 360 people. King built thousands of bridges across the continental United States, some of which are still standing.

Death

King died in 1892 after a brief illness. After his death, the state of Ohio and the U.S. government filed and won a suit against the King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Company and 13 other bridge-building companies for engaging in pooling arrangements. Sixteen bridge companies formed the pool so that the companies could control and share the profits from highway bridge projects; the antitrust suit deemed that such an arrangement was illegal. The company that King founded lost the suit and was later terminated in 1922, 16 years after the company moved to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

to do business as the King Bridge Company. After the King Bridge Company was terminated, the King family took control of the Cleveland Bridge Company and changed its name to King Bridge Company. The president of the new company was Norman C. King. This company lasted until at least the 1940s.

References

External links

King Bridges in New York State by Allan King Sloan

The King Bridge Company Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Zenas 1818 births 1892 deaths Bridge engineers Businesspeople from Cleveland People from Granville, Vermont King Bridge Company American engineers 19th-century American businesspeople

Early life

Career

Death

See also

References

External links