Thomas Curtis Clarke (September 16, 1827 – June 15, 1901) was a railway engineer, builder and
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
best known for a series of
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
bridges in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. While living and working in
Port Hope, Ontario
Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Toronto and about west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County. ...
, his firm won the contract to build the east and west blocks of the
Canadian Houses of Parliament.
Life
Clarke was born in
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
on September 16, 1827 and as a boy he attended the Boston Latin School. He enrolled at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, graduating in 1848 with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree in engineering, working under Captain John Child.
In 1873, Clarke was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.
Thomas Curtis Clarke died in New York City on June 15, 1901, and is buried in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada.
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References
Further reading
* Thomas Curtis Clarke et al.
''The American Railway: Its Construction, Development, Management and Appliances''
Charles Scribner's Sones, 1889
*"Who Was T.C. Clarke, C.E.", ''SSAC Bulletin'', Vol. 17, No. 4, December 1992, Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (SSAC), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (article by Jim Leonard; this research provided the impetus, in 1993, for the Ontario Heritage Trust to erect a "blue and gold" provincial heritage plaque in downtown Port Hope.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Thomas Curtis
1827 births
1901 deaths
American civil engineering contractors
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni