Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II

Benjamin Henry Latrobe II (December 19, 1806 – October 19, 1878) was an American civil engineer best known for pioneering railway bridges, notably the Thomas Viaduct, and serving as chief engineer for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. His innovations in wooden bridges and curved masonry viaduct designs significantly advanced American civil engineering in the 19th century. Latrobe also collaborated with Wendel Bollman, a prominent bridge designer, who contributed to early developments in iron truss bridges. His engineering survey plans for crossing the Allegheny Mountains were later incorporated into legislation guiding the construction of the Pacific railroads, establishing his lasting impact on national infrastructure.

Family Benjamin Henry Latrobe II was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 19, 1806, Latrobe was the youngest son of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who, six years previously, had married his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Hazlehurst (1771–1841), the eldest daughter of Issac Hazlehurst, a Philadelphia merchant

Latrobe married Maria Eleanor "Ellen" Hazlehurst (1806–1872) of Altoona, Pennsylvania on March 12, 1833. They had four sons (two of whom survived childhood) and three daughters.

Their eldest son, Charles Hazlehurst Latrobe (1833–1902), moved to Florida, where he married and later joined the Confederate States Army. A civil engineer like his father and grandfather, Charles H. Latrobe later moved back to Baltimore, where he served as the city's chief engineer for 25 years and continued to design public buildings and bridges noted for their beauty. His brother, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, III (1840–1901) became an Episcopal Church priest and rector of the Church of Our Savior in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Early life Latrobe attended Georgetown College in Washington, D. C. and graduated from what was then known as St. Mary's College in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1823. After that, he entered the law office of Charles F. Mayer, a prominent attorney in Baltimore, becoming a member of the Baltimore Bar in 1825. This was to be the first rail link to Washington. No progress, however, had been made on this railroad as the Company was busy building the main line to Frederick. But, in 1829, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company obtained two legal injunctions that "...restrain(ed) the (railroad) from constructing the road at all, within the limits of Frederick County." This brought the progress of the main line work to a complete halt, and the focus then became on the Washington branch. In 1831, Jonathan Knight, the Chief Engineer of the road, appointed Latrobe and Henry J. Ranney to locate the railroad assisted by Henry R. Hazlehurst.

In 1834, the legal issues had been resolved to the point that work on the railroad could be resumed in conjunction with the canal company, and Latrobe located the railroad from Frederick County to Harpers Ferry, (West) Virginia. The road crossed the Susquehanna River using a series of three bridges supported by piles which at that time were the first long bridges of that type erected in the United States. The bridge was a wooden structure designed by Latrobe, nicknamed the "Latrobe truss" and built by Wernwag in 1836-1837. arch bridge which became the largest and first curved masonry railway viaduct in the United States when completed in 1835. The viaduct spans the Patapsco River between Relay and Elkridge, Maryland. Nicknamed "Latrobe's Folly" by those who doubted the massive structure could support itself, the bridge remains in use today (as of 2024), carrying far heavier loads than ever envisioned.

The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad (P&C) became Latrobe's next challenge when he was appointed its president in 1856. Fraud by its former leader William Larimer, Jr., had set back progress the P&C had made in providing the B&O with a connection from Baltimore to Pittsburgh. By the time Latrobe joined, 33 of the 58 miles of track had been completed between Connellsville and Pittsburgh with the remainder coming into service under his leadership by the end of 1861.

Connecting with the B&O at Cumberland entailed his greatest hurdle to overcome - building up and over the summit of the Alleghenies at a maximum grade of sixty feet (1.25%) to the mile, including the construction of the 4000 feet Sand Patch Tunnel - which came to fruition in 1871. While Latrobe's engineering expertise was key to this accomplishment, he stepped away from the presidency of the P&C in 1864, leaving the responsibility of dealing with P&C's financing, internal board disagreements, and the political machinations of the competitor Pennsylvania Railroad to others, and returned to the chief engineer position to finish the job of linking the B&O and P&C. In just a few years after that completion, P&C's funding challenges came to a head with the result that its track was leased to the B&O on a long-term basis, and it was folded into the bigger railroad, as part of the B&O's Pittsburgh District, later known as CSX's Keystone Subdivision.thumb 1843 lithograph,'Map, exhibiting the railway route between Baltimore & St. Louis, together with the other principal lines in the eastern, middle & western states; prepared under the direction of B. H. Latrobe, Ch. LOC 98688350

In the late 1860s, Latrobe became a consulting engineer for the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and worked on the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts, then the second-longest tunnel in the world.

Leadership roles

On December 17, 1838, a petition was circulated asking civil engineers to meet in 1839 in Baltimore, Maryland, to organize a permanent society of civil engineers. Before that, thirteen notable civil engineers largely identifiable as being from New York, Pennsylvania, or Maryland met in Philadelphia. This group presented the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia with a formal proposal that an Institution of American Civil Engineers be established as an adjunct of the Franklin..." The proposed constitution failed, and no further attempts were made to form another society.

Latrobe was buried in Green Mount Cemetery, whose landscape architecture he had designed, beside his wife. His brother John H. B. Latrobe was on the cemetery's board of directors as well as helped found the Maryland Historical Society, which maintains the family papers.

Legacy Latrobe played a prominent role in the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, particularly the location of the road in one of the first crossings of the Alleghenies. Latrobe's plan for a maximum grade of 2.2%, or 116 feet per mile over the crest in 1848 became the standard for the pacific railroads in the 1860s. "(T)he two Latrobes ... spent virtually their entire professional careers, spanning much of the 19th century. Benjamin supervised the construction of most of the line between Baltimore and the Ohio River; he subsequently became the B&O Railroad's chief engineer. (While his brother) John made many of the financial and political deals that enabled the line to be built." (Dilts, 2004)