| Loammi Baldwin, Jr. |
Website Links For Loammi |
Information AboutLoammi Baldwin, Jr. |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT LOAMMI BALDWIN, JR. | |
| 1780 births | |
| 1838 deaths | |
| people from massachusetts | |
| american engineers | |
| deaths by stroke | |
|
Baldwin was born at North Woburn, Massachusetts , educated at Westford Academy, and graduated from Harvard College in 1800. His early inclinations were towards mechanical subjects, and during his college life he made with his own hands a clock which kept good time and was the wonder and admiration of his class. After graduation he entered a law office in Groton, Massachusetts , where he constructed a Fire Engine , which the town greatly needed. In 1804 he completed his studies at Groton, and opened his own law office in Cambridge, Massachusetts . In 1807, however, he abandoned his law practice in favor of engineering. He traveled to England to inspect public works, and intended to do the same in France but was barred by the difficulty in entering the country. Upon his return he began an engineering practice in Charlestown, Massachusetts . One of his earliest engineering works was the construction of Fort Strong (1814), a fort in Boston Harbor built for defense against the British. He served as chief engineer with the rank of Colonel, a title which has sometimes confused him with his father. In 1819 he was asked to complete the construction of the Milldam, now that stretch of Beacon Street beyond the Boston Common . From 1817 to 1820, he was worked in Virginia, and in 1821 was made engineer of the Union Canal in Pennsylvania . In 1824 Baldwin returned to Europe and remained there a year, mostly in France, examining public works. In 1825 he joined a small committee planning the s at Charlestown and at Norfolk . Baldwin led many other projects such as a marine railway at Pensacola ; construction of buildings at Harvard College ; a canal around the Ohio River falls; a stone bridge called the Warren Bridge at Charlestown ; and the Harrisburg Canal in Pennsylvania. About a year before he died he had a stroke of paralysis; a second attack proved fatal. He died at Charlestown, Massachusetts on June 30 1838 , at the age of fifty-eight, and was buried in Woburn. |
|
|