Squire Whipple—Father of Iron Bridges

Abstract

The 19th century saw the United States rise from an agricultural country with settlements primarily along the ocean or navigable rivers to a major industrial power with the country explored and settled. This rapid development was made possible in part by engineers who designed and built our canals and railroads. One such man was Squire Whipple. This paper describes the impact he made on the use of cast and wrought iron in bridge building. In addition he is known worldwide as the man who developed the technique of analyzing a truss and put those ideas into print in his remarkable book of 1847 on bridge building.