Irving Porter Church was born on July 22, 1851 in Ansonia, Connecticut, United States. He was the younger of two sons of Dr. Samuel Porter and Elizabeth Hannah (Sterling) Church. He was a direct descendant of Richard Church, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1630. His family moved to Newburgh, New York, in 1857, where his father engaged in the lifelong practice of medicine.
The son received his primary and preparatory training in the public schools of Newburgh, except for a final year in Riverview Military Academy at Poughkeepsie. He graduated from Cornell University in 1873, with a degree of C. E.
He taught mathematics for three years, principally in a preparatory school near Philadelphia. Then for forty years, until his retirement in 1916 as emeritus professor of applied mechanics, he was continuously engaged in teaching at his alma mater, successively as assistant professor of civil engineering, 1876-91; associate professor, 1891-92; and professor of applied mechanics and hydraulics, 1892-1916. His career extended over a period when the study of engineering and mechanics expanded greatly and he took an important part in shaping the technical courses and in compiling appropriate texts. He spared neither time nor labor in helping students individually to understand difficult questions and displayed rare ingenuity in devising problems to illustrate principles and their applications. His pupils attained eminence in every field of engineering. Church was the author of clear and logical textbooks on mechanics, hydraulics, and other subjects. In 1890 he published his "epoch-making" book, Mechanics of Engineering (parts of which had been previously issued). It went through several editions and became one of the most widely used textbooks in the United States. It was supplemented by his Notes and Examples in Mechanics in 1892 and followed by Diagrams of Mean Velocity of Water in Open Channels (1902), Hydraulic Motors (1905), and Mechanics of Internal Work (1910). In addition to these works Church made numerous contributions to technical periodicals and the proceedings of learned and scientific societies. Soon after his retirement, in tribute to him as teacher and friend, the alumni of the College of Civil Engineering presented a portrait of him to the University as well as the Irving P. Church Fund, the income from which was to be used to purchase books for the library of the college.
He is remembered not only as a respected teacher, but as a friendly, gentle, human soul whose quiet manner and self-effacing modesty won the hearts of all who knew him.
He was a man of wide interests. As an aid to his study of astronomy he set up a telescope in his own yard. He also donated the lens in the large telescope in the Fuertes Observatory at Cornell with an additional sum of $1, 000 to help defray the cost of mounting it. Painting was one of the favorite diversions of his later years, and his house was filled with his copies of masterpieces. He was very fond of music and, himself, played the violin. He was also a proficient linguist and a student of literature and history.
On June 15, 1881, he was married to Elizabeth Porter Holly of Niagara Falls, New York. They had two daughters, Edith and Elsie. She died in 1903.
