Francis Collingwood

Francis Collingwood was born in Elmira, NY in 1834. He graduated with a degree of Civil Engineer in 1855. He worked in his family jewelry business and performed many short term engineering assignments between 1855 and 1869. From 1869–83 he worked under Washington A. Roebling as Assistant Engineer for construction of Brooklyn Bridge. His tasks included caisson sinking and fitting, building of towers, anchorages, and New York approach and Station. He also designed arches under the New York approach. In 1883, he was sent by Roebling to perform inspection of and repairs to Allegheny Suspension Bridge. In 1885, he became a regular contributor to "The Sanitary Engineer", and a Consulting Engineer. He designed the largest drydock in the U.S. at Newport News, VA which was opened in 1889. His diversified interests included concrete, fire and flood protection, beach erosion, dam safety, masonry, road building, forest preservation, and foundations and caissons. In 1898, when bottom chords of stiffening trusses of Brooklyn Bridge buckled, Collingwood published a detailed report to calm the fears of the public and press about its safety. He established and endowed the Collingwood Prize in 1894 for junior members of ASCE. He wrote about 100 papers, reports, discussions, and speeches. For his paper on Repairs to the Allegheny Bridge, he was awarded the Telford Medal by Britain's Institution of Civil Engineers. He died at Avon, NJ in 1911.