Charles M. Jacobs

Charles Mattathias Jacobs (June 8, 1850 – September 7, 1919) was an English civil engineer. He is primarily known for his tunneling work in the United States, including the design of three pairs of rail tunnels under the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey—the Uptown Hudson Tubes, the Downtown Hudson Tubes and the North River Tunnels.

Early life Charles Mattathias Jacobs was born in Hull, England on June 8, 1850. He was the ninth of fourteen children born to Esther Jacobs. His father, Bethel Jacobs, was a prominent merchant in Hull. Charles was privately educated and studied engineering at Cambridge University.

Career In 1866, Jacobs began a five-year apprenticeship in Hull with the marine engineering and shipbuilding firm of Charles and William Earle. He later served in the Merchant Service and went to sea, earning a first-class certificate as a marine engineer from the British Board of Trade. In 1876, Jacobs began working as a consulting engineer in Cardiff, Wales, specializing in marine engineering including the construction of dry docks and other types of underwater construction work. That same year, he became a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

He erected the Arvon Patent Fuel Works and the Uskside Rivet Works, both of which were located in Newport, Wales. (Jacobs would serve as the director of the Uskside Rivet Works until his death.) Working with Samuel Rea, Jacobs laid out plans for an underground rapid transit system connecting Lower Manhattan in New York City with the LIRR's terminal in Brooklyn and the Pennsylvania Railroad's terminal in Jersey City. After Corbin acquired a franchise to build a bridge across the East River from Thomas Rainey, Jacobs worked on plans to extend the LIRR westward from Queens across a bridge from Ravenswood to a terminal at East 64th Street in Manhattan. The overall length of the bridge was to have been about , including approaches. Foundations for three of the bridge's piers were built, but the project was stopped after Corbin died in an accident in 1896.

Jacobs pictured along Davies, William McAdoo and others in the first party to go through the Uptown Hudson Tubes. Following the successful completion of the Ravenswood Tunnel, Jacobs earned the reputation as one of the leading designers of shield-driven tunnels. He was selected as the chief engineer to complete the Uptown Hudson Tubes, which were holed through in 1904 and were the first tunnels completed under the Hudson River. That same year, Jacobs was elected as a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He also served as the chief engineer of the Downtown Hudson Tubes. Jacobs wrote a paper describing this overall system of rapid transit tunnels for the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, for which he was awarded the Telford Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1910.

Jacobs was also involved in the construction of the Tredegar Dry Dock in Newport, Wales, about of pipeline between Rangoon and Yenangyat for the Burmah Oil Company, the Hales Bar Lock and Dam in Tennessee, and about of tunnels associated with the Laxaxalpam Aqueduct in Puebla, Mexico for the Mexican Light and Power Company. The couple did not have any children.

Jacobs had an interest in motor vehicles; he owned a steam wagon and was a member of the Royal Automobile Club. He also was a member of the City of London Club and the Royal Societies Club. In New York City, he was a member of the Engineers' Club and the Railroads Club. His funeral and burial took place in Penarth. The houses were constructed off Askew Avenue near Pickering Park in the 1930s. The original homes were replaced in 2013 by Pickering and Ferens Homes; the property is now named "The Jacobs Homes".

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