William J. Wilgus

William J. Wilgus (1865–1949) was an American civil engineer. In 1902 he was responsible for the design and construction of New York City's Grand Central Terminal.[1] Wilgus coined the term "taking wealth from the air" from his idea to lease the area above the Park Avenue Tunnel in order to help finance the station. This is based on the legal concept known as air rights. He is also credited with the double-stacked track design of the station, that greatly increased its capacity.[2] During the First World War, Wilgus served as the American Expeditionary Force chief of logistics and rail transport.[3]

William John Wilgus
Born(1865-11-20)November 20, 1865
Buffalo, New York, US
DiedOctober 24, 1949(1949-10-24) (aged 83)
Claremont, New Hampshire, US
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
EducationCornell University
OccupationEngineer
SpouseMay Reed
Children2
Engineering career
ProjectsGrand Central Terminal

Biography

William John Wilgus was born on 20 November 1865 in Buffalo, New York,[4] the son of Frank Augustus Wilgus and his wife Margaret Ann Woodcock.

Wilgus graduated from Buffalo Central High School in 1883.[5] He studied for two years under a local civil engineer and took a Cornell correspondence course in drafting, 1883–1885, ending his formal education.[4] Afterward, Wilgus embarked on what would soon become a prominent career in civil engineering. Wilgus worked on some of the largest and most complex railroad projects during his time.

Career

After high school he was privately tutored in engineering before accepting his first position as a rodman and draughtsman for the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad in 1885. Wilgus rose rapidly in his profession. In 1892, he married Mary Reed. In 1893 he began his association with the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad as an assistant engineer on its Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg line. By 1899 he became the railroad's chief engineer for construction and maintenance of way (track) and in 1903 became the vice-president in charge of construction. During these years he supervised the planning and construction of Buffalo Union Station, the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel and the Weehawken Terminal.[6]

In 1907 Wilgus was forced to resign from the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad after a crash involving the new electric locomotives he had helped to develop killed 20 passengers. Sixteen died on impact, and four more died in the hospital. The victims were mostly women and children. Anxious to defend his reputation, he carefully documented the design decisions, but the railroad's lawyers forced him to destroy his papers, fearing that they would be brought into court as evidence. To keep the railroad from pinning the blame on him, he reconstructed the documentation and used its existence to keep the railroad from throwing him to the wolves.[2] Wilgus went on to open his own consulting practice. He advised numerous railroad companies on construction and improvement projects and on the valuation of their holdings. He also worked with several states and municipalities including several concerned with the improvement of passenger and freight transportation in the New York Metropolitan area.[6] He was awarded a Telford Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers in their 1910-11 session.[7]

Wilgus was appointed director of military railways and deputy director of general transportation in the American Expeditionary Forces; he retired with the rank of Colonel and a Distinguished Service Medal.[8]

In 1933, Wilgus donated land in Weathersfield, Vermont to the state for use as a state park; developed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, it is called Wilgus State Park in his honor.

Wilgus died on 24 October 1949.[4] He is buried with his second wife (m. 1919) Gertrude Bernadette Tobin (18 February 1873 in Twillingate, Newfoundland Colony – 1959) at Union Cemetery, Claremont, New Hampshire. By his first wife Mary Reed (6 May 1864 in New York State - 2 October 1918 in Manhattan, New York County, New York), his children included:

  • Margaret Fitch Wilgus (12 December 1892 in Minnesota - 31 May 1919 in Manhattan, New York County, New York; aged 26); she married 4 August 1911 in Westchester County, New York, to medical student Clarence Howard Smith (February 1891 in New York City – 10 March 1918), son of Joel Sumner Smith and Mary Baese; one son:
    • Clarence Aldrich Smith (1912–1976); had issue.
  • William John Wilgus, Jr. (b. September 1898 in Minnesota)

Accomplishments

Footnotes
  1. Gray, Christopher (August 19, 2010). "Covering Its Tracks Paid Off Handsomely". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-21. In 1902, William J. Wilgus, an engineer for the New York Central Railroad, came up with the concept of roofing over the yards around Grand Central and building hotels, offices and apartment houses. Among the earliest concepts were a 20-story tower over the terminal itself, and an adjacent hotel, later erected as the Biltmore, from Vanderbilt to Madison Avenue, between 43rd and 44th Streets.
  2. "Grand Central". American Experience. 2009-02-28. PBS.
  3. Wilgus, William J. (1931). Transporting the A.E.F. in Western Europe, 1917-1919. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
  4. "William J. Wilgus, Rail Expert, Dead". The New York Times. October 25, 1949. p. 27. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  5. "Roll of Honor Inductee's". Western New York Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
  6. Guide to the William J. Wilgus Papers (PDF). New York Public Library. ISBN 99962-61-91-3. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  7. Jackson, Robert W. (2011). Highway under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel. New York: NYU Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0814742990.
  8. "Wilgus State Park Interactive Campground Map and Guide" (PDF). VT Dept. of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  9. Cudahy, Brian J. (2003). A Century of Subways: Celebrating 100 Years of New York's Underground Railways. New York: Fordham University Press. p. 202. ISBN 0-8232-2292-6.
  10. A Frank Sprague Triumph: The Electrification of Grand Central Terminal, By John L. Sprague and Joseph J. Cunningham, IEEE Power and Energy Society Proceedings Jan/Feb 2013 History Highlights, accessed March 2020.
  11. "Past Presidents of the ASCE Met Section". ASCE Metropolitan Section. Retrieved 2016-11-12.

Further reading
  • Kurt C. Schlichting, Grand Central's Engineer: William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.
  • Wilgus, William J. "Transporting the A.E.F. in Western Europe, 1917-1919." New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1931.
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