Edward P. Palmer (1938) A successful civil engineer and principal in the Manhattan firm of Senior and Palmer, Inc., Edward P. Palmer was responsible for the design and construction of many of New York City’s subway tunnels, as well as the underwater foundations for the George Washington Bridge and Metro North Railroad Bridge. Palmer [read more...]
William A. Klinger (1936-1937) Klinger was one of Iowa’s building leaders, having graduated from the college of engineering at the University of Wisconsin; he earned his civil engineering degree in 1910 and two years later became President of Steinhagen & Klinger, serving until 1917 when he was called to the war effort in an [read more...]
Nick F. Helmers (1935) After cutting his construction teeth in the Bridge & Building Department of the Northern Pacific Railway, this adopted son of St. Paul, Minnesota, entered the executive fray of the industry in 1910, eventually landing at the Siems-Carrey Company. One year later, the industrious builder became a full partner in the [read more...]
Arthur C. Tozzer (1933) Dartmouth graduate and Massachusetts native Arthur C. Tozzer was a product of the Ivy League institution’s Thayer School of Civil Engineering and spent decades as a leader within New York’s Turner Construction Company, where his last position was vice president and director. His fondness for his alma mater showed, as [read more...]
William A. Starrett (1932) Who among even the AGC’s illustrious membership could claim a true icon as one of his accomplishments? Not many. But Col. William A. Starrett, president of the Starrett Corporation and the man at the helm of the construction of the Empire State Building, certainly ranks among them. Starrett had some [read more...]
Henry J. Kaiser (1932) Kaiser’s presidency may have come as a result of Starrett’s untimely death, but the then-AGC vice president had quite the impressive CV himself. As the son of German immigrants – his father was a shoemaker – Kaiser, born in upstate New York, founded his first construction company in Washington State [read more...]
Albert P. Greensfelder (1931) Residents of his native St. Louis know well the name Greensfelder, more often these days for the park and other city landmarks that bear his name. But as construction professionals know – it’s hard work that earns a name such an honor. Greensfelder graduated from Washington University in 1901; much [read more...]
A. E. Horst (1930) A.E.’s father, Henry, was a German immigrant and a carpenter who immigrated to the states at the age of 17. A true pioneer, he homesteaded in western Kansas in the late 1800s and even wrote a book about the adventures – later settling in Rock Island, IL, and fathering eight [read more...]
Thomas T. Flagler (1929) Though born in Lockwood, N.Y., it was in Atlanta, GA, that Flagler would make his indelible mark on the construction industry. As president and general manager of the Flagler Company, he built one of the most prominent and successful companies in the state, erecting office buildings and factories, apartments and [read more...]
W. A. Bechtel (1928) There’s no success without failure, they say, and the history page of Bechtel’s website says its founder endured a few before beginning what would become one of the world’s largest construction companies, spanning a century of building and five generations of his family. Major projects completed during Bechtel’s time at [read more...]
