James Laurie (May 9, 1811 – March 16, 1875) was a prominent American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

and one of the founders of

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, p ...

(ASCE). He performed surveying, bridge design, and route design for a number of railroads in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Engineering career

Laurie was born in

Bellsquarry Bellsquarry is a suburban area located in the south-west of Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. Bellsquarry is located to the west of the Murieston area of the town and to the south of the Dedridge area of the town. The Brucefield industrial es ...

, Scotland in 1811; from the 1820s until 1832, he was apprenticed to an instrument maker in the town. In 1832, he and James P. Kirkwood moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

; Laurie then worked as an associate engineer under Kirkwood on the construction of the

Norwich and Worcester Railroad The Norwich and Worcester Railroad (N&W) was a railroad in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Its north-south mainline ran between its namesake cities of Worcester, Massachusetts, and Norwich, Connecticut, (later extended to Gr ...

(N&W). Laurie became chief engineer in 1835. In 1837, the

Taft Tunnel Taft Tunnel is a railroad tunnel in the northeast United States, located in the southwest part of Lisbon, Connecticut. Completed in 1837, it was the first common carrier railroad tunnel built in the United States, though it was not used until 1 ...

at Lisbon, Connecticut (the oldest tunnel still in railroad use in its original form) was constructed during his tenure. After leaving the N&W, Laurie performed surveys for railroads, canals, bridges, tunnels, and wharves. From 1845–47, he performed surveys for the Providence and Plainfield Railroad. In 1848, he opened his own office in Boston. From 1849 to 1851 he was an engineer for the New Jersey Central Railroad, which included planning the railroad's extension from

Whitehouse, New Jersey Whitehouse, also spelled White House, is an unincorporated community located within Readington Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. The community lies along the former Jersey Turnpike (now U.S. Route 22), just west of Mechanicsville. The ...

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware Ri ...

. In 1852, he opened a second office in New York City. From 1853 until the early 1860s he was chief engineer of the

Nova Scotia Railway The Nova Scotia Railway is a historic Canadian railway. It was composed of two lines, one connecting Richmond (immediately north of Halifax) with Windsor, the other connecting Richmond with Pictou Landing via Truro. The railway was incorpo ...

. Under contract to the state of Massachusetts, he produced reports and surveys on the Troy & Greenfield Railroad and the unfinished

Hoosac Tunnel The Hoosac Tunnel (also called Hoosic or Hoosick Tunnel) is a active railroad tunnel in western Massachusetts that passes through the Hoosac Range, an extension of Vermont's Green Mountains. It runs in a straight line from its east portal, al ...

in 1862. From 1861 to 1866, he was chief engineer of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad. During this time he oversaw the design and construction of the Warehouse Point railroad bridge – one of the first iron bridges in the country. In 1870, he examined two under-construction bridges: the Lyman Viaduct for the state of Connecticut, and the

Eads Bridge The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River connecting the cities of St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois. It is located on the St. Louis riverfront between Laclede's Landing, to the north, and ...

for its bond holders.

American Society of Civil Engineers

Laurie was an early attendee of Boston Society of Civil Engineers meetings; when it was incorporated in 1848, he was appointed president for two years. He was the first to present a paper to the society. In 1852 Laurie opened an office in New York and began to build on the success of the Boston group. On November 5, 1852 Laurie was one of twelve engineers who met and formed the first national-level society of engineers in the United States- the American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects. He soon was elected president. At a meeting on January 5, 1853 he presented the group's first paper, advocating an

elevated railroad An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks ...

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to get around horse traffic congestion – 15 years before the city's first elevated line was built. The group was inactive from 1855 to 1867, partially due to Laurie's absence from the city. In 1867, he held a meeting to reinvigorate the society, and uncovered funding to establish a permanent office for the group. When Kirkwood succeeded Laurie as president in 1868, he gave credit to Laurie for his contributions. Laurie had an interest in engineering ethics, and intended for the ASCE to represent the public interest and not merely those of its members. Although largely taught through experience rather than schooling, Laurie believed that proper education was essential for engineers and mandated that only college graduates could join the society. Never married, Laurie died in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

on March 16, 1875. The James Laurie Prize was established by ASCE on October 1, 1912. It is awarded annually to "a member of the Society who has made a definite contribution to the advancement of transportation engineering, either in research, planning, design, or construction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurie, James 1811 births 1875 deaths People from West Lothian American engineers