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Thomas Curtis Clarke

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Thomas Curtis Clarke
Born(1827-09-16)September 16, 1827
Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJune 15, 1901(1901-06-15) (aged 73)
New York, New York, U.S.
EducationHarvard University
Occupation(s)Civil engineer, writer
Signature

Thomas Curtis Clarke (September 16, 1827 – June 15, 1901) was an American railway engineer, builder and author best known for a series of cast iron bridges in the United States. While living and working in Port Hope, Ontario, his firm won the contract to build the east and west blocks of the Canadian Houses of Parliament.

Life

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Clarke was born in Newton, Massachusetts on September 16, 1827 and as a boy he attended the Boston Latin School. He enrolled at Harvard University, graduating in 1848 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in engineering, working under Captain John Child.[1][2]

In 1873, Clarke was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.[3]

Thomas Curtis Clarke died in New York City on June 15, 1901, and is buried in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada.[1]

The world of today differs from that of Napoleon Bonaparte more than his world differed from that of Julius Caesar, and this change has chiefly been made by engineering.

— Thomas Curtis Clarke[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Thomas Curtis Clarke Dead". The New York Times. June 17, 1901. p. 14. Retrieved December 22, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Frank Griggs Jr. (May 2008). "Thomas C. Clarke". STRUCTUREmag. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011.
  3. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  4. ^ Alan Brown, "Thomas Curtis Clarke 1827-1901", Ontario's Historical Plaques

Further reading

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  • 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.)