Kristoffer Olsen Oustad (January 27, 1857 – February 13, 1943) was a

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans () are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 milli ...

engineer who designed major structures in the United States. Often working together with three other Norwegian-American engineers ( Martin Sigvart Grytbak, Andreas W. Munster and Frederick William Cappelen) he designed bridges and other buildings. Cedar Avenue Bridge Minneapolis

Biography

Oustad was born on the Oustad farm in

Romedal Romedal is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964 when it became part of Stange Municipality. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of ...

Parish,

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

county in the historic region of

Østlandet Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical Regions of Norway, region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populo ...

, Norway. He was educated at the Technical College in

Trondhjem Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is t ...

(now

Norwegian University of Science and Technology The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Norway and the largest in terms of enrollment. The university's headquarters is located in Trondheim (city), Trondheim, with region ...

), graduating in 1882. He attended the Royal Saxon Polytechnicum (now

Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for , abbreviated as TUD), also as the Dresden University of Technology, is a public research university in Dresden, Germany. It is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony a ...

) in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Germany before emigrating to the United States. He joined the

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

City Engineer's Office in 1883 and became Municipal Bridge Engineer in 1893. Oustad designed the Cedar Avenue Bridge, assisted by Frederick T. Paul, assistant bridge engineer, under the direction of city engineer N.W. Elsberg. Oustad assisted Frederick William Cappelen in the design of the Third Avenue Bridge and the F.W. Cappelen Memorial Bridge. He completed the Cappelen Memorial Bridge when Cappelen died. Oustad retired in 1929, after the Cedar Avenue Bridge (now 10th Avenue Bridge) in Minneapolis was completed.

References

Other Source

* Bjork, Kenneth O. (1947) ''Saga in Steel and Concrete - Norwegian Engineers in America'' ( Northfield, Minnesota:

Norwegian-American Historical Association Norwegian American Historical Association is a non-profit, member-supported organization dedicated to locating, collecting, preserving and interpreting the Norwegian-American experience. It publishes scholarly books and maintains a historical arc ...

) *Costello, Mary Charlotte (2002) ''Climbing the Mississippi River Bridge by Bridge, Volume Two'' (Minnesota. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications) 1857 births 1943 deaths People from Stange Norwegian emigrants to the United States American civil engineers Engineers from Minneapolis TU Dresden alumni {{US-engineer-stub

Biography

See also

References

Other Source