John J. Endres was a civil engineer known for designing the

Monongahela Incline The Monongahela Incline is a funicular on the South Side in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, near the Smithfield Street Bridge. Designed and built by Prussian-born engineer John Endres in 1870, it is the oldest continuously operating ...

, the first passenger incline in the United States, in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The incline was originally

steam power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transf ...

ed and ran on wooden tracks. Born in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

and educated in Europe, Endres had immigrated to the United States and settled in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. His daughter, Caroline Endres, born and educated in the US, became one of the first women engineers in the country. She assisted him on the Monongahela Incline. While the two were working in Pittsburgh, they met fellow engineer Samuel Diescher, who was born in Hungary and had immigrated to the US in 1866. Diescher and John Endres became friends and business partners. Samuel and Caroline married in 1872, and resided in Pittsburgh. They had six children together, including three sons who became engineers and went into business with their father. Endres returned to Cincinnati after constructing the Monongahela Incline. He returned to Pittsburgh in 1883 to help Diescher design the

Monongahela Freight Incline The Monongahela Freight Incline was a funicular railway that scaled Mount Washington in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. History and features Designed by European immigrants Samuel Diescher and John Endres, this incline was built besi ...

, completed the following year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Endres, John American civil engineers Railway inclines in Pittsburgh People from Cincinnati 19th-century Prussian people 19th-century American engineers Engineers from Ohio