Background
Eugene Griffin was born on October 13, 1855 at Ellsworth, Maine, the son of George K. and Harriet (Jackson) Griffin.
manufacturer Soldier electrical engineer
Eugene Griffin was born on October 13, 1855 at Ellsworth, Maine, the son of George K. and Harriet (Jackson) Griffin.
Griffin entered the United States Military Academy in July 1871, and graduated June 16, 1875, standing third in his class.
In 1875 he was commissioned a second lieutenant of engineers. After a period of service at the School of Application, Willetts Point, New York Harbor, he was assigned to the geographical survey being conducted in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas under Lieut. George M. Wheeler. He was promoted first lieutenant June 30, 1879.
In 1883 he returned to West Point as assistant professor of civil and military engineering. During 1885-86, while on the staff of Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock he served as engineer officer of the Division of the Atlantic and the Department of the East. Meanwhile, he had contributed to the literature of his profession two significant papers: Notes on Military Photography, in Vol. I of the Professional Papers of the Engineer School of Application, and Our Sea-Coast Defenses (1885). The latter is a careful historical study characterized by scientific accuracy and a statesman-like grasp of the problems involved.
From June 1886 to March 1888 Griffin was assistant to the engineer commissioner of the District of Columbia. In this capacity, in 1887, he made an investigation of telephone, telegraph, arc light, incandescent light, and electric underground wires in the United States. During this investigation he had visited a number of important cities and inspected several electric railroads.
Invited to become general manager of the railroad department of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, of which he later became vice-president, he resigned from the army to accept that position.
In 1892, when his company was consolidated with the Edison company to form the General Electric Company, he was elected vice-president of the latter corporation and placed at the head of the commercial department.
In 1893 he became president of the Thomson-Houston International Electric Company.
In 1887 there were only twenty electric railways in operation in the United States and Canada, and twenty-two under construction. The rolling stock on these roads included only 100 diminutive cars equipped with io-horsepower motors. Within two years after Griffin became associated with the Thomson-Houston Company, its railroad business increased from practically nothing to over $4, 000, 000 a year; and for a considerable period it was unable to meet the demands made upon it.
By 1904 there were in the United States and Canada 55, 000 cars weighing as much as forty-eight tons and equipped with as many as four 200-horsepower motors. In that year Griffin contributed to the Electrical World an article on “The Foundation of the Modern Street Railway” which is the best account of his services to the industry.
During the Spanish-American War he organized the 16t Regiment, United States Volunteer Engineers, and commanded it in Cuba and Porto Rico. In 1899, before he was mustered out of service, he was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers. His death, due to apoplexy, occurred at Schenectady. He was buried at West Point.
Daring and decisive, analytical but far-sighted, he forecast developments in transportation, particularly in interurban traffic, that a quarter of a century after his death are only beginning to take place.
Griffin was married in 1889 to Almira Russell Hancock, niece and adopted daughter of General Hancock. His wife, a son, and a daughter survived him.