Alfred Pancoast Boller

Abstract

Boller was one of the post-Civil War giants in the bridge-building field. Along with men like Jacob Hays Linville, Charles Macdonald, T. C. Clarke, C. Shaler Smith, Charles Kellogg, Octave Chanute, George Morison, C. C. Schneider, Theodore Cooper, and Gustav Lindenthal, he created the modern steel bridge. He specialized in swing bridges, designing the longest of the type at the time. He also designed the longest cantilever bridge and the longest simple span bridge. In 1909, he had plans accepted for building the second longest steel arch in the world across the Harlem River in honor of the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the Hudson River. He was one of the few bridge builders who urged his colleagues to pay more attention to the beauty of their bridges.