William Petit Trowbridge (May 25, 1828 – August 12, 1892) was a mechanical engineer, military officer, and naturalist. He was one of the first mechanical engineers on the faculties of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffiel ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, and the

Columbia School of Mines The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (popularly known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering; previously known as Columbia School of Mines) is the engineering and applied science school of Columbia University. It was founded as t ...

. He had a brief military career after graduating from West Point and later served as

Adjutant General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

for the State of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

from 1873 to 1876. During his career as a surveyor on the American Pacific coast he collected thousands of animal specimens, several of which now bear his name. Trowbridge inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 1872 and was also a member of the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wi ...

. Also in 1872, he was elected 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 ...

Early life and family

William Petit Trowbridge was born in the Strawberry Hill subdivision of

Troy, Michigan Troy is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. Its population was 87,294 at the 2020 U.S. census, making Troy the most populous city in the county and the 13th most-populous municipality in the state. Troy is a northern suburb of Me ...

on May 25, 1828. His parents were Stephan Van Rennselaer Trowbridge (1794–1859) and Elizabeth Conkling (1797–1873). Stephan fought in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

and William's grandfather took part in the

Battle of Lexington The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...

as a brevet Captain in the Continental Army. Trowbridge had eleven siblings, many of whom became notable in their own right. An older brother, Rowland Ebenezer (1828–1881), became a

United States Congressman The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from Michigan and a close friend of

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governo ...

, and two others became Michigan businessmen. One younger brother, Tillman Conkling (1831–1888), became a Christian missionary in Aintab, Turkey and a founder of

Central Turkey College :''There was also a Central Turkey College in Maraş.'' Central Turkey College (sometimes called Aintab College) was a Christian high school founded between 1874 and 1876 by the American Mission Board in Aintab, Ottoman Empire (now Gaziantep, T ...

, and another, Luther Stephen (1836–1912), also became a major general during 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 ...

Military education and survey career

Trowbridge was appointed as a cadet to the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

at West Point at the age of sixteen. He graduated at the head of his class in 1848, serving in the last year of his cadetship as acting assistant professor of chemistry. Soon after graduation, he was ordered back to West Point as an assistant in the astronomical observatory, where he prepared himself for duty at the

United States Coast Survey United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

. As a surveyor, he completed studies the Maine coast and of navigation improvements for the Appomattox River and James River in Virginia. He was promoted to the rank of

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

on December 18, 1854 in the Corps of Engineers.Cullum, George, Biographical Register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 1868

Specimen collection and discoveries

From 1853 to 1856, Trowbridge headed a magnetic, tidal, and astronomical survey of the full length American Pacific coast and participated in Lt. Robert Williamson's

Pacific Railroad Survey The Pacific Railroad Surveys (1853–1855) were of a series of explorations of the American West designed to find and document possible routes for a transcontinental railroad across North America. The expeditions included surveyors, scientists, and ...

. During this time, Trowbridge's assembled an animal specimen collection that added "some fifty new fishes alone to the North American fauna," according to a report prepared in 1854 by ichthyologist and

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Assistant Secretary

Spencer Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He eventually ...

. Also in 1854, Charles Girard presented a paper, "Observations upon a collection of fishes made on the Pacific coast of the United States by Lieutenant W.P. Trowbridge, for the museum of the Smithsonian Institution." A larger collection of several thousand animal specimens was donated to the University of Michigan in 1859, the largest early gift to the university's zoology collection. Two Pacific coast fishes are named after Trowbridge. They are the surf-perch '' Helconotus trowbridgii'' (Girard, 1854) and the whiting '' Homalopomus trowbridgii'', (Girard, 1856). The first specimen of

Trowbridge's shrew Trowbridge's shrew (''Sorex trowbridgii'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in southern British Columbia in Canada and in Washington, Oregon, and California in the United States. Taxonomy Trowbridge's shrew was first ...

was collected on June 10, 1855 by Trowbridge at Astoria, Oregon.

Civilian and academic career

William resigned his commission in the U.S. Army on December 1, 1856 to accept a professorship of mathematics at the

. A year later, he returned to the U.S. Coast Survey as a civilian scientific adviser, where he was employed on Gulf Stream observations and in magnetic work at Key West, Florida. From 1862 to 1865, during 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 ...

, he was in charge of the engineer agency in

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and oversaw the construction of the fort at Willets Point as well as repairs to New York Harbor. After the war, he was vice-president of the

Novelty Iron Works The Novelty Iron Works was an ironworking firm founded to make boilers in New York City. Located at 12th street, New York. The founder was the Rev. Eliphalet Nott President of Union College of Schenectady, New York. Eliphalet Nott had invented ...

in New York City until 1871, when he returned to academia as first mechanical engineering professor at

, where he took the post of Professor of Dynamical Engineering in the

. While at Yale, he served the

State of Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

from 1872 to 1876, commissioner of the building of the

Connecticut State Capitol The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the Ho ...

and as commissioner for establishing harbor lines at

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

. In 1877 he accepted a position as chair of the engineering department at the School of Mines at Columbia College, where he remained until his death in 1892. While serving at Columbia College, Professor Trowbridge took charge of the Tenth Census of the department of power and machinery employed in manufactures. He was associate editor with '' Johnson’s Universal Cyclopaedia'' and author of “Heat and Heat-Engines” (1874) as well as numerous contributions to the

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...

of New York. The degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by the

Rochester University Rochester University (formerly Rochester College) is a private Christian college in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was founded by members of the Churches of Christ in 1959. Rochester University is primarily undergraduate (though it offers so ...

in 1856 and by Yale in 1870. He was awarded a Ph.D. by

Princeton College Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

in 1880 and an LL.D. by

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in 1883 and by the University of Michigan in 1887. He was a member of the

, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was elected a member of the National Academy in 1872.

Personal life

Trowbridge married Miss Lucy Parkman in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

on April 21, 1857 and together they had five sons and three daughters; Catherine Helsey (1858), Lucy Parkman (1859), William Petit (1861), Samuel Breck Parkman (1862), Nannie Bernie (1864), Percival Elliot (1867), Julian Percival (1869) and Charles Christopher (1870). Samuel went on to become an architect in the New York-based practice of

Trowbridge & Livingston Trowbridge & Livingston was an architectural practice based in New York City in the early 20th-century. The firm's partners were Samuel Beck Parkman Trowbridge and Goodhue Livingston. Often commissioned by well-heeled clients, much of the fir ...

. Trowbridge died on August 12, 1892 in New Haven, Connecticut, and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery.

Architectural legacy

During his residence in Washington, D.C., Trowbridge built a

town house A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

on Lafayette Square adjacent to the

Blair House Blair House, also known as The President's Guest House, is an official residence in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The President's Guest House has been called "the world's most exclusive hotel" because it is primarily used ...

, now the official state guest house of the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

. In 2005, renovations on the home were undertaken to convert it to a guest residence for former U.S. presidents. A home Trowbridge erected in 1871 on Prospect Hill in New Haven, Connecticut, is now part of the Yale University campus.

References

Bibliography

External links

"The profession of the mechanical or dynamical engineer"
An addressed delivered by Trowbridge at the Sheffield Scientific School on October 5, 1870. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trowbridge, William P. Military personnel from Connecticut Connecticut Adjutant Generals 1828 births 1892 deaths Columbia University faculty Sheffield Scientific School faculty United States Military Academy alumni University of Michigan faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences People from Troy, Michigan American surveyors American naturalists Military personnel from Michigan