ABSTRACT
KNEASS 05.11. 1806 Philadelphia PA/USA 15.02. 1858 Philadelphia PA/USA Samuel Honeyman Kneass studied architecture and engineering in an office until 1824, designing then one of the triumphal arches at Philadelphia to honor General Lafayette. He was from 1825 an assistant engineer under William Strickland (1787-1854) for a survey of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. He also was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Society for the promotion of the internal improvements to report on public works in engineering. He was from 1825 to 1828 the principal assistant engineer in the Corps organized again by Strickland to construct the Susquehanna division of Pennsylvania State Canal. After having been active for several railroad companies, he was in charge of Delaware and Schuylkill Canal from 1832 to 1836. He visited Europe in 1840 thereby becoming familiarized with the technical improvements made there as compared with the United States. Upon return to his country he was in 1841 engaged on surveys and improvements for the southern district of Philadelphia. Kneass had in the mid-1840s a contract to construct a canal at Cartagena, New Granada, currently in Colombia, up to Magdalena River. He took from 1846 to 1848 charge of the Wisconisco Canal in Pennsylvania and again collaborated for railroad projects in his State. From 1849 to 1853, he was Philadelphia City Surveyor thereby constructing the new bridge across Schuylkill River at Market Street carrying ordinary traffic and tracks of the Western Railroad; he was able to remove the old and to install the new bridge without interrupting the traffic. He was then from 1854 to 1858 chief engineer of the Northern Railroad of Pennsylvania. Although officially founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE was installed unofficially already in the 1840s, a time when Kneass was one of these who proposed this important professional association. FitzSimons, N. (1972). Kneass. Biographical dictionary of American civil engineers: 75. ASCE. Jackson, J. (1922). William Strickland: The first native American architect and engineer. Philadelphia. P Kneass, S.H. (1844). Report of an Examination of the coal mines, lands, and estate of the Lykens Valley Coal Company, in Dauphin County PA. Philadelphia. Kneass, S.H. (1853). Report on Drainage and sewerage made to the select and common councils of the City of Philadelphia. Crissy & Markley: Philadelphia PA. Ports, M.A. (2001). Engineering intrigue at Barnum’s Hotel. International Engineering History and Heritage: 94-99, J.R. Rogers, ed. ASCE: Reston VA.
