Fairman Rogers (November 15, 1833 – August 22, 1900) was an American civil engineer, educator, and philanthropist.

Early life

Fairman Rogers was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

on November 15, 1833. He graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1853, and taught

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

there from 1855 to 1871."Rogers, Fairman (1833-1900),"
''The New International Encyclopaedia'', vol. 17, (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1905), p. 222. He was one of four professors who founded its Department of Mines, Arts and Manufacturers (1855), and he served as a University Trustee (1871–86). As an undergraduate, he was a founding member of its

Zeta Psi Zeta Psi () is a collegiate fraternity. It was founded in June 1, 1847 at New York University. The organization now comprises fifty-three active chapters and thirty-four inactive chapters, encompassing roughly fifty thousand members, and is a ...

fraternity, Sigma chapter (1850).

Career

At age 24, Rogers was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, was a member of the

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natura ...

, and a charter member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was the author of '' Terrestrial Magnetism and the Magnetism of Iron Ships'' (1877, revised 1883). He served in the

Union Cavalry The American Civil War saw cavalry tactics move largely away from the offensive towards the defensive, with the emphasis on screening, raiding, and reconnaissance. Development of the rifled musket had also rendered the cavalry charge bot ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, and on the engineering staffs of General John F. Reynolds and General William F. Smith. As a volunteer officer in the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, he completed an 1862 survey mapping the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

. As a member of the Pennsylvania militia, he fought at

Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...

and Gettysburg. He was one of the founders of the

Union League of Philadelphia The Union League of Philadelphia is a private club founded in 1862 by the Old Philadelphians as a patriotic society to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln. As of 2022, the club has over 4,000 members. Its main building was built in 1865 and ...

. He was a member of the

First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry The First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, also known as the First City Troop, is a unit of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. It is one of the oldest military units in the United States still in active service and is among the most decora ...

and, following the war, was elected its captain.

Furness and Eakins

As chairman of the Building Committee for the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, he ran the 1871 design competition for the museum-and-art-school's new building, which was won by the novice firm of Furness & Hewitt. Rogers's sister, Helen Kate, was married to the Shakespearean scholar

Horace Howard Furness Horace Howard Furness (November 2, 1833 – August 13, 1912) was an American Shakespearean scholar of the 19th century. Life and career Horace Furness was the son of the Unitarian minister and abolitionist William Henry Furness (1802–1896), ...

, brother of the PAFA-commission-winning architect Frank Furness. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, ca

He served as chairman of PAFA's Committee on Instruction (1878–83), and changed the Academy's policy to admitting women under the same conditions and offering them the same opportunities as men. He recruited the controversial artist

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

back to teach at the school, and commissioned an important painting from him: ''The Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand'' (1879–80). It shows Rogers, his wife Rebecca Gilpin Rogers, and friends driving through Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. In 1882, he promoted Eakins to director of PAFA's art school. Rogers's favorite mare, "Josephine," the lead horse in ''The Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand'', died in 1882. He donated the carcass to PAFA, where Eakins and his students studied and dissected it. Based on this process, Eakins modeled three écorché statuettes to serve as teaching tools for equine musculature. In 1883, Rogers invited the animal-locomotion photographer Eadweard Muybridge to lecture at PAFA. This led to Muybridge's moving from California to Philadelphia, and continuing his research at the University of Pennsylvania's Veterinary school, Veterinary School. He was an avid coaching enthusiast, and founder of the Philadelphia Coaching Club. He wrote what is still the definitive guide to the sport: ''A Manual of Coaching'' (Philadelphia: 1900).

wrote a biographical memoir of his brother-in-law: s:F. R. 1833-1900, ''F. R.'' [Fairman Rogers] ''1833-1900'' (Philadelphia: privately printed, 1903). A March 2007 exhibition at the

, ''Equus Unbound: Fairman Rogers and the Age of the Horse'', highlighted materials from his papers.

Personal life

Rogers hired Furness to alter his Rittenhouse Square city house (1871), and to design "Fairholme (Newport R.I. mansion), Fairholme" (1874–75, now altered), his summer cottage in Newport, Rhode Island. He also had a country house in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. Rogers later sold his city house, and Furness altered it for Alexander J. Cassatt (1888). He and his wife had no children. They moved to Paris, France, Paris about 1890. Rogers died in Vienna, Austria, Vienna in August 1900. He is buried in Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery.Fairman Rogers Collection
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Gallery

File:Eakins H03.jpg, ''Fairman Rogers astride his mare Josephine'' (1878), photograph by

File:Portrait of Mrs. Fairman Rogers - Study for The Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand.png, ''Study of Mrs. Fairman Rogers'' (1879) by Thomas Eakins File:A may morning in the park thomas eakins.jpeg, ''The Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand'' (1879–80), by Thomas Eakins File:Eakins Josephine Ecorche.jpg, ''The Mare "Josephine" - Écorché'' (c. 1882, painted plaster), by Thomas Eakins, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. File:Postilion.png, Illustration from ''A Manual of Coaching'' (1900) File:Fairholme, Ruggles Avenue, Newport.jpg, "Fairholme" (1874–75, altered), Frank Furness, architect. Rogers's summer cottage in Newport, Rhode Island.

References

External links

*Fairman Rogers
''A Manual of Coaching'' (1900)
from Google books.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100425024247/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/muybridge/muybridge.html Eadweard Muybridge and the University of Pennsylvania] * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Fairman Engineers from Pennsylvania Educators from Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty 1833 births 1900 deaths Furness family Writers from Newport, Rhode Island People from Delaware County, Pennsylvania Union Army officers People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Writers from Philadelphia Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) People associated with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts