Squire Whipple recognized by local ancestors and residents
by Janine Giordano |
SPRINGFIELD CENTER – The whole while Janice Whipple was studying
bridge design in college, she had no idea that the Whipple trusses she
was learning about were actually designed by one of her ancestors.
“My father used to say he had a great uncle who used to build
bridges,” she said, but he never embellished on how accomplished Squire
Whipple truly was, especially for the 19th century.
In a presentation to the Springfield Historical Society, Whipple and
her sister, Elsie Whipple Schiffman, re-enacted a “fictitious”
interview written and published in 1988 by Francise E. Griggs, Jr., who
thoroughly researched the bridge builder’s life and then wrote about
him as though he was interviewing him.
Through the re-enactment, the two sisters heralded Whipple’s life
and his accomplishments and spoke about his career moves around the
country, but especially from Albany to Springfield and on to Utica.
In addition to working with many railroad companies, Whipple is
credited with the design of numerous styles of bridges, some of which
can still be viewed in the area today, “such as the bowstring in Albany
and a pedestrian bridge over the Rexford Falls, in Sherburne. Most have
been relocated,” Whipple said, “although there is one in Boonville, one
in Clifton Park, and on the Union College campus.”
Heralded as the “Father of the Iron Bridge,” Whipple is credited
with the construction and design of many types of bridges, including a
lifting draw bridge in Utica, an iron swing bridge in Kentucky, a
lift and swing bridge, and of course, the Whipple Truss Bridge, the
bowstring truss, and trapezoidal truss bridges.
Whipple was born to his parents, James and Electa, in
Hardwick, Mass., in 1804. In 1822, his family moved to Springfield
Center where his father farmed. He helped his father on the farm
and attended school, during which time he studied languages, the violin
and “several trades such as carpentry and tinworking. I also had time
to conduct my philosophical experiments,” Whipple read, as Squire
Whipple, such as “physics, mechanics, electricity.”
He attended Hartwick Academy and Fairfield Academy, near Herkimer,
then went on to Union College, from which he graduated in 1830.
Starting as a rodman on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Whipple
remained in their employ until 1833. At this time, he moved back to New
York because he had heard engineers were needed for the project to
enlarge the Erie Canal, and because his father had died unexpectedly
and his mother needed his support.
The home is still standing, Whipple said, and there are three graves
located on the homestead’s site, belonging to his parents and one of
his sisters.
After moving back home, he designed the bowstring truss bridge,
using iron for the castings and tension members, iron which was
supplied by his brother-in-law, Oliver Shipman, in Springfield Center.
In 1841, he was granted a contract to construct a bridge across the
canal near Rome. Also that year he received $10,000 to design and build
“the first weigh lock scale on the enlarged Erie Canal,” he said.
In 1847, after half a decade of building bridges all along the
canal, he wrote “Treatise on Bridge Building” with the hope that bridge
builders would “put away their cut and dry method” on bridge building.
That book was still current, Shiffman said, for years after Whipple
died. “He was very ahead of his time.”
He also wrote a second book, “The Way to Happiness,” which described
his “philosophy on life and what it takes to make yourself and those
around you happy.”
In the concluding chapter, he wrote, “If all would labor reasonably,
spend economically, associate freely and extensively, all might enjoy
plenty...”
Schiffman and Whipple approached the society for help in their
continued research on their great great uncle and his accomplishments.
“We’ve always had this literature about Squire Whipple’s importance
and all the work he did. There didn’t seem any way to promote any
knowledge about him,” Whipple said.
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