Background
Joseph M. Wilson was born on June 20, 1838, at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, one of three sons of William Hasell Wilson, civil engineer, and Jane Miller.
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Joseph M. Wilson was born on June 20, 1838, at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, one of three sons of William Hasell Wilson, civil engineer, and Jane Miller.
Wilson received his education in private schools and in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was graduated with Computer Engineering Degree in 1858.
After a two-year special course in analytical chemistry, he entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad, serving as assistant engineer until 1863, when he became resident engineer of the Middle Division.
In 1865 he was made principal assistant engineer in charge of bridges for the entire road, and subsequently, engineer of bridges and buildings, in which capacity he continued until January 1, 1886. He also acted as engineer of bridges and buildings on the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad.
In 1869, as a reward for ten years' service, the Pennsylvania Railroad granted him and his assistant, Henry Pettit, six months' leave of absence for travel in Europe.
In 1876, with his elder brother, John Allston Wilson, and Frederick G. Thorn, he organized the firm of Wilson Brothers & Company, civil engineers and architects. John Allston Wilson, who was senior member of the firm from its formation until his death, had also served the Pennsylvania Railroad and its subsidiaries in various capacities from assistant engineer to chief engineer from 1858 until 1876. He was especially well versed in matters connected with railroad law, a fact which enabled him to serve as an expert advisor or witness in legal cases. In 1886 the other brother, Henry W. Wilson, associated himself with them. The firm members were engineers and architects for the shops of the Northern Central Railway at Baltimore and of the Allegheny Valley Railroad at Verona, Pennsylvania; stations and shops for the Ninth and Third Avenue lines of the New York Elevated and the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad, and stations on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Lehigh Valley, and the Philadelphia & Reading. They also served in the same capacity in connection with various buildings in Philadelphia, including the Drexel Institute, the Presbyterian Hospital, and the Holmesburg Prison. Among the structures designed and built by Joseph M. Wilson were the Susquehanna and Schuylkill bridges, the original Broad Street Station, Philadelphia, and the Baltimore & Potomac Station at Washington.
Wilson was chairman of the board of expert engineers on the Washington aqueduct tunnel and reservoir in 1888 - 1889, and in 1888 served on a board to report on terminal problems at Providence, Rhode Island. As one of the expert engineers he examined and reported on the condition of the elevated railroads in New York City; also on the design for the approaches of the New York and Brooklyn suspension bridge.
In 1891 he was consultant to the board of rapid transit commissioners for the City of New York. As consulting engineer for the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, he had charge of all work on the Pennsylvania Avenue subway in Philadelphia, and the work of improving the water supply of that city was carried out in accordance with his report of 1899. Joseph Miller Wilson died on November 24, 1902, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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In 1874 Joseph Wilson was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society; from 1887 to 1893 he was president of the Franklin Institute.
On May 24, 1869, Joseph Wilson married Sarah Dale Pettit, daughter of Judge Thomas McKean Pettit; they had two children.
