Biographical Sketch of Adolphus BONZANO (1893); Chester County, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris <jMcDmorris@comcast.net>.

Copyright.  All Rights Reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
*********************************************************

Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl-
vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley
and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Philadel-
phia, PA, 1893, pp. 342-3.

"ADOLPHUS BONZANO, a well known civil engineer of the United States, and a
member of the great bridge building company of Phoenixville, was born Decem-
ber 5, 1830, in the city of Ehingen, kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany.  He
early received a classical as well as polytechnical education, and arrived
at New York city in September, 1850.  He then went to Philadelphia, where,
from October until May, 1851, he was engaged in the study of the English
language.  From May, 1851, to 1855, he was at the American Machine works,
at Springfield, Massachusetts, where and at which time he learned the mach-
inist business in all its important branches.  During the year 1855 he was
engaged in erecting machinery in the southern States, and then went to
Detroit, Michigan, where he resided until 1868.

"Adolphus Bonzano was engaged until 1860 as superintendent of machine shops,
and then as designer and superintendent of bridge construction.  In 1868 he
removed to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of carrying on iron
bridge building, as a member of the firm of Clarke, Reeves & Co., and had
charge of the estimates, general plans, and details of construction.  This
company constructed an immense number of iron bridges, iron viaducts and
roofs, amounting, up to December, 1880, to four hundred million pounds in
weight.

"Among the principal works executed by this firm are: the Girard avenue
bridge, at Philadelphia; the Hudson river bridge, at Albany; the bridges for
the inter-colonial railway, Canada, and for the North Shore railway, Canada;
the elevated railway in the Second, Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth avenues, New
York city; and the Susquehanna bridge at Havre de Grace, Maryland.  This
company, known as the Phoenix Bridge Company, had its principal office at
No. 410 Walnut street, Philadelphia, and its works at Phoenixville.  The
firm was composed of Thomas C. Clarke, Adolphus Bonzano, and John Griffin,
and continued in existence until 1884.  Since 1884 Mr. Bonzano has been
engaged as vice president and chief engineer of the Phoenix Bridge Company,
which is the successor of Clarke, Reeves & Co.  Since the organization of
the Phoenix Bridge Company some very large iron structures have been com-
pleted, notably the large double track bridge over the Ohio river at Cin-
cinnati, and the great iron viaduct over the Pecos river in Texas, for the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company.

"Mr. Bonzano is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the
American Society of Mining Engineers, and the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers.  He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, and a
member of the Philadelphia Consistory.

"In politics, Mr. Bonzano is a republican, but he takes no decided part in
political affairs, as his time is given to the duties of his profession and
the needs of his business interests.  His native talent, strong indi-
viduality, and untiring industry are the means by which he has won his way
into the front rank of civil engineering, while the large and substantial
bridges which he has erected in the United States and Canada are but so
many enduring and conspicuous monuments of his skill and success."