ABSTRACT
WORTHEN 14.03. 1819 Amesbury MA/USA 02.04. 1897 Brooklyn NY/USA William Ezra Worthen graduated in 1838 from the Harvard University, Cambridge MA. He began his professional career as an assistant for the water supply and hydraulic work at Lowell and Boston MA, then associated with James B. Francis (18151892). From 1840 to 1842 Worthen was engaged with a nearby railroad. Returning to Lowell MA, he designed and built with Francis a number of dams and mills. After a visit to Europe, Worthen settled in New York in 1849, engaging in building and mill construction. These included a dam across Mohawk River at Cohoes NY, and floating docks of Jersey City. Worthen was widely known as an expert in pumping machinery, so that he was called both upon design and to test such machinery in New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. He also selected pumping engines for Boston, and tested large pumping units at Brooklyn NY, or Philadelphia PA. He had profound practice in measuring the discharge of water in canals, reporting again for a number of cities. From 1866 to 1869, Worthen was the sanitary engineer to the New York Metropolitan Board of Health. In Brooklyn NY he reported upon an extensive addition to the sewer system. With Francis and Theodore G. Ellis (1829-1883), he served upon a committee to report on the failure of the Mill River Dam at Williamsburg MA, which had occurred in 1874. Around 1890 Worthen was the chief engineer of the Chicago Main Drainage Canal. He was president of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1887, and made honorary member ASCE in 1893. Anonymous (1889). Worthen, William E. Appletons’ cyclopaedia of American biography 6: 617. Anonymous (1936). Worthen, William Ezra. Dictionary of American biography 20: 538-539. Scribner’s: New York. Francis, J.B., Ellis, T.G., Worthen, W.E. (1874). Failure of the dam on the Mill River. Trans. ASCE 3: 118-122. Hunt, C.W. (1897) Worthen. Historical sketch of ASCE: 49-50 ASCE: New York. P Worthen, W.E. (1848). Report upon the subject of introducing pure water into the city of Lowell. Norton: Lowell. Worthen, W.E. (1862). First lessons in mechanics. Appleton: New York. Worthen, W.E. (1869). A practical treatise on architectural drawing and design. Appleton: NY. Worthen, W.E. (1896). Report on the future extension of water supply for the city of Brooklyn. Dept. City Works: Brooklyn.
