Leffert Lefferts Buck (February 5, 1837 – July 7, 1909) was an American

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

and a pioneer in the use of steel arch bridge structures.

Career

Leffert Buck was born in

Canton, New York Canton is an incorporated Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 11,638 at the time of the 2020 census. The town contains two Administrative divisions of New York#Villa ...

. He graduated from

St. Lawrence University St. Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college in the village of Canton in St. Lawrence County, New York. It has roughly 2,100 undergraduate and 100 graduate students. Though St. Lawrence today is nonsectarian, it was founded in 1 ...

in 1863. After his graduation from St. Lawrence, Buck enlisted and fought for the Union Army in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

under General Slocum, participating in the battles at

Antietam The Battle of Antietam ( ), also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, took place during the American Civil War on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virgin ...

, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg,

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-century "La ...

Missionary Ridge Missionary Ridge is a geographic feature in Chattanooga, Tennessee, site of the Battle of Missionary Ridge, a battle in the American Civil War, fought on November 25, 1863. Union forces under Maj. Gens. Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, ...

, Peachtree Creek, Resaca and Ringgold Gap. Following the completion of the Civil War, Buck earned his civil engineering degree from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

in Troy, New York, in 1868. Buck served as president of the

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

. He also worked with Richard Buck, another prominent bridge engineer.

Projects

Some of his projects include: * The Verrugas Viaduct on the Oroya Railroad in Peru (in the early 1870s). * The

Whirlpool Rapids Bridge The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, commonly known as the Whirlpool Bridge or the Lower Steel Arch Bridge (before 1937), is a spandrel braced, riveted, two-hinged arch bridge that crosses the Canada–United States border, connecting the commercial dow ...

over the

Niagara Gorge Niagara Gorge is an long canyon carved by the Niagara River along the Canada–United States border, between the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It begins at the ...

, which still exists. He reconstructed and reinforced the

Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge stood from 1855 to 1897 across the Niagara River and was the world's first working railway suspension bridge. It spanned and stood downstream of Niagara Falls, where it connected Niagara Falls, Ontario to ...

, which allowed traffic to continue while the Whirlpool bridge was under construction. Steel towers and framework supporting the project were removed once it was completed. At the time of completion, it was the longest arch bridge ever built (168 meters across). * The

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge across the East River in New York City, connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Originally known as the East River Bridge, the Williamsburg Brid ...

, one of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

's most notable landmarks, with

Henry Hornbostel Henry Hornbostel (August 15, 1867 – December 13, 1961) was an American architect and educator. Hornbostel designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States. Twenty-two of his designs are listed on the National Regist ...

. At 1,600 feet it was the longest bridge in the world when completed in 1903 and a key factor in opening

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

up as a working-class neighborhood for

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. The bridge is well known for its vast reach and massive symmetry. Pont De Rennes Bridge Rochester NY

* The

Pont De Rennes bridge The Pont De Rennes bridge is located in the Brown's Race Historic District of Rochester New York at the base of the High Falls where it spans the Genesee River. The Pont De Rennes bridge formerly carried Platt Street over the river but was conv ...

(former Platt Street bridge) that spans the

Genesee River The Genesee River ( ) is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. The river contains several waterfalls in New York at Letchworth State Park and Roch ...

in Rochester at the High Falls. * Engineered the

Queensboro Bridge The Queensboro Bridge, officially the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens with the Midtown Manhattan ...

in New York City.

Death and legacy

Buck died on July 7, 1909, in Hastings, New York. His widow, Mira Gould Buck, died in

Eastview, New York Eastview (or East View) is a business district and former hamlet in Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately 25 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. It was primarily residential, and had a post office, railro ...

, in 1946 at the age of 84. A dormitory in the Quadrangle complex at Rensselaer is named after him.

References

Sources

External links

RPI: Alumni Hall of Fame: Leffert L. Buck
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buck, Leffert L. 1837 births 1909 deaths Engineers from New York (state) American civil engineers American bridge engineers Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni