Lewis M. Haupt

Lewis Muhlenberg Haupt (March 21, 1844 – March 10, 1937) was an American civil engineer. He was a professor of civil engineering at the University of Pennsylvania from 1872 to 1892. He won the Magellanic Premium award in 1887 for his work on physical hydrography and the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1901 for his work on a reaction breakwater used to maintain channels through ocean shoals.

He served as a commissioner of the Lake Erie and Ohio River ship canal in 1892, and as a member of the Nicaragua Canal Commission in 1897, and the Isthmian Canal Commission of 1899.

Early life and education Haupt was born March 21, 1844, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to railroad engineer Herman Haupt and Ann Cecilia Keller. He attended the public schools in Philadelphia and Germantown Academy. In 1858, he accompanied his father to Massachusetts during his work on the Hoosac Tunnel. Lewis attended high schools in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Lawrence Scientific School. He attended the University of Pennsylvania as a freshman for the 1861/1862 academic year. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, and graduated in 1867. of Lake Superior. In 1869, he moved to Texas and served as engineer officer for the Fifth Military District working on surveys of government buildings and military roads. He also designed plans to protect Fort Brown from flooding of the Rio Grande. He resigned his commission in 1869 and accepted a role as assistant engineer and topographer for Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received the Magellanic Premium award in 1887 for his work on physical hydrography and the changes in channels and shoals. He was president of the Colombia-Canea Arbitration (1897), and was chief engineer of the survey for ship canals across New Jersey.

In 1901, he was awarded the Cresson gold medal from the Franklin Institute for his work on the reaction breakwater. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Geographical Society of Philadelphia, and the National Geographic Society. and was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Personal life He married Isabella Cromwell on June 26, 1873, and together they had five children.

Publications Working Drawings and How to Make and Use Them, Philadelphia: Jos. M. Stoddard & Co., 1881 The Topographer, His Methods and Instruments, New York: J.M. Stoddart, 1883 The Physical Phenomena of Harbor Entrances, 1887 Canals and Their Economic Relation to Transportation, 1890 A Move for Better Roads, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1891 The Proposed Ship Canal Between Philadelphia and New York, New York Board of Trade and Transportation, 1892 A Manual of Engineering Specifications and Contracts, Philadelphia: Henry Carey Baird & Co., 1900 Pamphlets on Rivers and Harbors, 1903 The Transportation Crisis, 1907 The Mississippi River Problem, 1904