Ira Welch McConnell was the son of James Calvin and Cecilia (Welch) McConnell. He was born on October 17, 1871 at Schell City, Missouri, where his parents had settled soon after the Civil War. He was brought up in Butler, Missouri. His father, in addition to farming, operated a country store.
Ira helped in the store and gained his preparatory school training at Butler Academy. After several years as a postal clerk in the United States railway mail service, he entered Cornell University in 1893 to study civil engineering. Throughout his college course his scholastic standing was good, and in 1897 he was graduated with the degree of C. E.
McConnell remained at Cornell for one year, 1897-98, as assistant in civil engineering, and then for another two years, 1898-1900, as an instructor. Many of the associations that he formed during these years lasted throughout his life. Leaving Cornell, he engaged in practical work for two years as a contractor's superintendent, then in June 1902 he was elected professor of civil engineering at the School of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Missouri at Rolla, Mo. After one year in that institution, he embarked on his active business career, at the age of thirty-two. He entered the United States Reclamation Service as project engineer in charge of the Gunnison Tunnel in Colorado, at the time one of the longest tunnels in the world. Within a few years he became supervising engineer in charge of the central district, which included Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, and adjacent states. He remained in the service until 1909, when he resigned to become chief irrigation engineer of J. G. White & Company, a firm which at that time was active in irrigation work. In 1910 he became vice-president and general manager of the Idaho Irrigation Company, a private project. Shortly afterward he went to the Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation as hydraulic engineer, becoming its chief engineer in 1917. The following year he became assistant general manager for the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at the Hog Island Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pa. While he was in this position, his accomplishments were particularly noteworthy.
Late in 1918, McConnell joined in the formation of Dwight P. Robinson & Company, Inc. , as executive vice-president and chief engineer with headquarters in New York City. Some ten years later, when the company was merged with others to form United Engineers & Constructors, Inc. , McConnell continued as senior vice-president until 1932. His activities as executive vice-president of the former organization covered the entire program of the company for the period from 1919 to 1928. For three years, 1921-24, he handled the work done by Dwight P. Robinson & Company, Inc. , for the Brazilian Government. This involved the construction of vast irrigation works in the arid regions of the northeastern part of the republic. During this period he was also responsible for the construction of the United States embassy in Rio de Janeiro. From 1928 to 1933 McConnell resided in Buenos Aires in the Argentine Republic.
McConnell's major achievement was the development of the subway system constructed for the Central Railroad & Terminal Company. He also built the Buenos Aires branch of the National City Bank of New York and the plant of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. When the subway was completed he was appointed director and general manager of the Central Railroad & Terminal Company and was occupying this position at the time of his death, from heart disease, at the age of sixty-one.
A careful and thorough organizer, a highly gifted engineer, and, at the same time, an extremely practical and hard-headed construction man, he was also thoroughly competent in financial matters. In his business relations McConnell had a reputation for fair dealing and honesty that was widely known and appreciated.
Quotes from others about the person
"The engineer, with the friendly twinkle in his shrewd eyes and the laugh that could disarm the suspicious reserve of high officials or the timid awe of a simple laborer, was in his way a more effective envoy of the best in his country than the generality of ambassadors hedged about by the formalities of protocol. "
McConnell was married, on September 22, 1903, to Grace Lucille Bowerman of Victor, N. Y. They had two sons, John Waldo and Charles Edwin, who, with his widow, survived him.
