James Barney Marsh

James Barney Marsh (April 12, 1856 – June 26, 1936) was an American engineer and bridge designer. He patented a new design for arch bridges. Marsh gave Archie Alexander, the first African-American to graduate as an engineer from Iowa State University, his first job. Marsh worked in the bridge building business for over 50 years, and several of his bridges are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Personal life and early career Marsh was born on April 12, 1856, in North Lake, Wisconsin. He moved to Iowa sometime around 1877, later enrolling at Iowa State University, and he received a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering in 1882. Within the next year, he traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, to work as a contracting agent for the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio. He married and had three children.

Later career Marsh was the representative of King Bridge Company in 1883 and the Kansas City Bridge and Iron Company in 1886. In 1889, Marsh became the western general agent for the King Bridge Company. Marsh had already had many bridges completed in Iowa, including a three-mile railroad structure in Sioux City and three bridges in Des Moines. His other bridges were in Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado. He became an independent bridge designer and contractor in 1896, but he still had his prior contacts with bridge companies to receive materials. Within a few years after the introduction of a new type of bridge construction involving reinforced concrete, Marsh worked on applying reinforced concrete to urban bridges. In 1901, he was an engineer of a Melan arch bridge in Waterloo, Iowa, which finished construction in 1903. Marsh wrote about reinforced concrete girder bridges, which were published in works by the International Engineering Congress in St. Louis in 1904.

Marsh continued to building rainbow arches and other types of reinforced concrete arch bridges. Possibly the largest rainbow arch bridge that he built was the Cotter Bridge in Arkansas, which was completed in 1930. He collaborated with other engineers to create "Minimum Specifications for Highway Bridges" for the Iowa Engineering Society, which was completed in 1914. Marsh's son, Frank E. Marsh, owned a construction company that often received the contracts for building bridges that were designed by Marsh. Marsh gave Archie Alexander, the first African-American to graduate as an engineer from the University of Iowa, his start.

Works Notable works include:

Iowa All Iowa works are NRHP-listed. Brush Creek Bridge, north of Baxter Springs, NRHP-listed Cedar Creek Bridge, FAS 96, Elgin, NRHP-listed Conroe Bridge, east of Junction City, NRHP-listed Creamery Bridge, Osawatomie, NRHP-listed Dewlen-Spohnhauer Bridge, Old US 160, Independence, NRHP-listed John Mack Bridge, South Broadway across the Big Arkansas River, Wichita, NRHP-listed Mine Creek Bridge, east of Mound City, NRHP-listed Neosho River Bridge, east of Hartford, NRHP-listed Pottawatomie Creek Bridge, Osawatomie, NRHP-listed

Elsewhere Bladensburg Concrete Bowstring Bridge, SR 541 over Wakatomika Creek, Bladensburg, Ohio, documented by HAER Cotter Bridge, US 62 BUS over the White River in Cotter, Arkansas. Miller Ree Creek Bridge, west edge of Miller, South Dakota, NRHP-listed Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge, Spring Street, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, NRHP-listed Marsh Concrete Rainbow Arch Bridge, Cambria Township, Minnesota, NRHP-listed