J. Waldo Smith

Jonas Waldo Smith (March 9, 1861 – October 14, 1933) was an American civil engineer and chief engineer on the Board of Water Supply of New York from 1905 to 1922. He was awarded the 1918 John Fritz Medal.

Biography Youth, education and early career Waldo was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts as the youngest son of Francis Smith and Abigail Prescott (Baker) Smith. After attending the Phillips Academy, he studied civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he graduated in 1887.

Waldo had started his career as chief engineer of the water works of Lincoln, Massachusetts in 1868 at the age of 17. From 1881 he had been assistant in office of the civil engineering company Essex Company and Lawrence. During his studies at MIT he had been assistant in the Holyoke Water Power Company Essex Company in Lawrence in the summers, and after his graduation in 1887 he continued to work there for another three years.

From 1903 to 1905 he was chief engineer in the aqueduct commissioner of New York, where he assisted in the completion of the construction of the New Croton Dam. From 1905 to 1922 he served at the Board of Water Supply of New York as Chief engineer.

In 1918 Waldo was awarded the honorary Doctor of Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Publications Smith, J. Waldo. "The Catskill Water Supply System." Journal (American Water Works Association) 5.2 (1918): 91-99. Smith, J. Waldo, and W. W. Brush. "Repairs to Risers in the Shafts of the City Tunnel of the Catskill Aqueduct (with discussion)." Journal (American Water Works Association) 6.1 (1919): 46-53. Smith, J. Waldo. "Schoharie development of the Catskill Water Supply System for New York City." Journal (American Water Works Association) 6.4 (1919): 639-653.