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Straight from ASCE National:

Congratulations to the Maine Section and the Metropolitan Section for being selected to receive the History and Heritage Section Citation for 2009.

With this Citation, ASCE’s History and Heritage Committee (HCC) recognizes the role Sections and Branches play in promoting civil engineering history to the public and preserving the history of the field.

The HHC selected the Maine Section for its production and distribution to the public of its new landmark brochure. To see their brochure, go to their History & Heritage Section on their Web site. The Metropolitan Section was selected for its outreach activities especially during New York City’s 125^th anniversary celebration of the Brooklyn Bridge. More information on their celebration activities may be found here.

For more information on this Citation and past winners go to this page on ASCE’s History & Heritage Web site.

Carol Reese
Staff contact
History & Heritage Committee
creese@asce.org

 To see a copy of the Citation Letter, click here

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Maine Section Engineering Landmark Program

Our Newest Engineering Landmark
 

The Maine Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers presented the Bangor Water District with a plaque recognizing the Thomas Hill Standpipe as a significant state historic civil engineering landmark at Seadogs Restaurant in Bangor on Thursday November 20.  History & Heritage Chair Will Haskell notes “It is exciting to celebrate the historical significance of this structure, which has been a vital component in providing clean, safe and reliable potable water and fire protection for over 110 years.” Built in 1897, the standpipe is a riveted steel tank 75 feet in diameter and 50 feet tall and can store 1.75 million gallons of potable water.   Thomas Hill Standpipe joins sixteen other Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks in Maine.  While the standpipe is similar to many water tanks around the state and the country, Thomas Hill Standpipe is uniquely enclosed by a larger wood structure that is 85 feet in diameter and 110 feet tall.  The wood enclosure is unique and serves multiple purposes. It has protected the steel standpipe from the natural elements and it offers a breathtaking, incomparable, 360-degree observatory of the City of Bangor from the promenade deck and the roof.

The Thomas Hill Standpipe was designed by Ashley B. Tower of Tower and Wallace of Holyoke, MA and built by Major James M. Davis on land owned by the Thomas Brothers. The standpipe is constructed on a stone foundation and consists of large steel plates riveted together. There are 22 steel plates in each circumference of the tank and there are 10 courses of plates to achieve the height of the tank. The tank is topped by a massive three-ton steel drum. This drum is 15 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter. There is a casting fitted to the bottom of the drum that was cast locally at the Bangor Foundry & Machine Company. This drum supports 24 iron trusses that support the promenade deck and the roof structure. The trusses were furnished by the New Jersey Steel & Iron Company, which also supplied the steel plates for the standpipe.

The wooden enclosure sits upon a stone block foundation that is 9 feet high and about 3.5 feet thick. The sill is made up of 2 by 12 pine planks bolted together to a thickness of 14 inches and bent to the circle. There are 24, 12 by 12 pine columns, all 48 feet long supporting the structure. A stairway winds around the inside of the structure and leads to the promenade deck. There is another stairway that leads from the promenade deck to the roof of the structure. In all, 42,000 board feet of pine was used in its construction and about 220,000 cedar shingles protect it from the elements.   At 111 years of age, the standpipe continues to be a significant part of the Bangor Water District’s distribution system, providing storage and pressure regulation to the downtown area. For many years the tower was open to the public and featured seats on the promenade deck for viewing the surrounding area. A contemporary account described the view as follows: Download the Nomination Package

“The view…can give Bangoreans nothing but a feeling of pride at the beauty of our city, every part of which is in plain sight. It invariably strikes the visitor how the city is set down in a basin with mountains and hills on every side.”

Portland Observatory - National Civil Engineering Landmark, 2006 

The Maine Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers is pleased to announce the selection of the Portland Observatory in Portland Maine as a historic National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The Portland Observatory has played an important role in the history of  Maine and the nation by aiding shipping to and from Portland Harbor. The Portland Observatory has long been the symbol of Portland, Maine, and is a landmark in the truest sense of the word.  The Portland Observatory (1807) is the only extant maritime signal station in the United States, and thus a unique architectural icon of maritime shipping and the “Golden Age of Sail.”

The Portland Observatory was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and has been recommended for National Historic Landmark status.  The "Brown Tower" as it was known due to the color of its’ shingles, is a testament to nineteenth century ingenuity and craftsmanship, not only due to its design, construction, and joinery, but because for almost 200 years it has withstood the violent storms that often lash Maine’s rocky coast.

Click here to review the Portland Observatory nomination package.

Maine Engineering Landmarks
ASCE has designated 9 Civil Engineering Landmarks in Maine as National Historic Engineering Landmarks. They are as follows, including the year they were designated:

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Past Maine ASCE Presidents
Order	First Name	Middle	Last Name	Term
1	Neal	D.	McDowell*
2	Weston	S.	Evans*
3	Hamilton		Gray*
4	Lucius	D.	Barrows*
5	Charles	F.	Parker*
6	Vaughn		Daggett*
7	Horace	A.	Pratt*
8	Bryant	L.	Hopkins*
9	Sylvester	L.	Poor*
10	Edward	C.	Jordan*
11	George	K.	Wadlin*
12	Harold	B.	Bessey*
13	J.	Porter	Hennings*
14	Walter	J.	Verrill	66-67
15	Robert	B.	Hunter	67-68
16	William	R	Gorrill*	68-69
17	William	B.	Pierce*	69-70
18	Theodore	H	Karasopoulos	70-71
19	Elbert	M	Pierce	71-72
20	J.	V.	Weisendanger	72-73
21	Wayne	A.	Hamilton	73-74
22	Stanley	B.	Walker	74-75
23	Melvin	W.	Morgan	75-76
24	Barry	A.	Patrie	76-77
25	Herbert	R	Doten	77-78
26	Robert	L.	Ballew	78-79
27	Albert	E.	Hodson, III	79-80
28	Westbrook	H.	Spaulding	80-81
29	Dale	L.	Jellison	81-82
30	Lionel	D.	Kelley*	82-83
31	Stephen	W.	Cole	83-84
32	Linwood	E.	Lufkin	84-85
33	C.	Donald	Hamilton	85-86
34	Chet	A.	Rock	86-87
35	Peter	B.	Tubbs	87-88
36	B.	Sharan	Vijay	88-89
37	Thomas	L.	Gorrill	89-90
38	Charles	R	Nickerson	90-91
39	Stephen	J.	Bradstreet	91-92
40	John	G.	Hodgkins	92-93
41	Philip	A.	Dunn	93-94
42	Dana	N.	Humphrey	94-95
43	Carl	V.	Beal	95-96
44	Eric	W.	Cobb*	96-97
45	Calen	B.	Colby	97-98
46	Alan	D.	Fisher	98-99
47	Michael	J.	Moreau	99-2000
48	Janis	L.	Piper	00-01
49	Kalia (Kitty)	L	Breskin	01-02
50	Gregory	A.	Blake	02-03
51	Isabel (Be)	V.	Schonewald	03-04
52	Eric	N.	Landis	04-05
53	Robert	E.	Chaput	05-06
54	Peter	S.	Merfeld	06-07
55	Tim	W.	Merritt	07-08
56	Erik	J	Wiberg	08-09

* - Deceased

Page created 03/29/2006,  with visits since  Aug 27,  2006, and the Last update on 11/09/2009

 Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth - Photo by Ralph Nelson
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