Rudolf Modrzejewski was born on January 27, 1861, in Cracow, Poland. Originally Rudolphe Modrzejewski, he was the only child of Gustav Sinnmayer Modrzejewski, a theatrical producer, and the famous actress Helena Opid Modrzejewska, who, like her son, simplified her name after coming to the United States, in her case to Helena Modjeska.
Modjeski received his early education in Cracow, living with his grandmother while his mother was on tour. At the age of fourteen, he had determined, his mother reports, to become a civil engineer. But music also made a strong appeal to his basically artistic temperament. He took extensive training with the celebrated Polish pianist Casimir Hofmann and for a time considered a concert career, and throughout his life, he kept up almost daily practice on the piano. In 1876, he came to the United States with his mother and stepfather (Charles Bozenta Chlapowski) and by 1878, had decided in favor of engineering. After preparatory work in Paris, he entered the famous École des Ponts et Chaussées, from which he graduated in 1885 with the degree of civil engineer.
He received honorary degrees from the University of Illinois (1911), Pennsylvania Military College (1927), and the Polytechnic Institute of Lviv, Poland (1930).
Returning to the United States, Modjeski began his engineering practice under George S. Morison, a leading bridge engineer of that day. The experience set the direction of his later professional work. In 1893, seeking more independence, he opened his own office in Chicago, the beginning of a career in bridge-building which in variety and scope has few parallels. The major bridges with which Modjeski's name is connected, either as a designer or as a consultant, number over fifty. They range from concrete and truss bridges for railroads and highways to some of the greatest suspension spans in the world. Modjeski's first major assignment, in 1894, was for a seven-span railroad and highway bridge over the Mississippi River at Rock Island, Illinois. In 1902-05, in partnership with Alfred Noble, he built a double-track railway bridge over the Mississippi at Thebes, Illinois. For a decade, 1905-15, he was chief engineer of bridges for the Oregon Trunk Railway Company and during this engagement built a spectacular 340-foot two-hinged arch spanning the Crooked River at a height of 350 feet. His other bridges of this period including the Broadway Bridge across the Willamette River for the city of Portland, Oregon, a double-track electric railway and highway structure with a bascule span (1910 - 12); the concrete-arch Cherry Street Bridge for Toledo, Ohio (1912); and the Harahan bridge across the Mississippi at Memphis, Tennessee while not unique, showed notable skill in selecting a type to meet the needs and conditions of the site. Several innovations were, however, contained in the Metropolis Bridge (1917), a double-track railroad bridge over the Ohio River at Metropolis, Illinois, on the design of which Modjeski worked with C. H. Cartlidge, serving after the latter's death as chief engineer of construction. This involved a record-breaking simple truss span of 720 feet and four other spans each exceeding 555 feet. Here also an alloy silicon steel, instead of the usual "structural grade" carbon steel, was used for the first time in the United States, with nickel steel for the tension members. The Delaware River Bridge (1921 - 26), between Philadelphia and Camden, N. J. , also included several innovations. A suspension bridge, with a main span (1, 750 feet) longer than any yet built, it involved the construction of cables thirty inches in diameter (half again as large as any previously built), each consisting of a compact bundle of close to twenty thousand steel wires, almost twice the number of strands previously handled in cable spinning. In 1923, Modjeski had taken Frank M. Masters into partnership with him and soon afterward Clement E. Chase both younger men whom he had trained. In partnership with Daniel E. Moran, the Modjeski firm also built the Mid-Hudson Bridge at Poughkeepsie, New York, a suspension highway bridge. The last project with which Modjeski was associated with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, on which he served as chairman of the board of consulting engineers from 1931 until his death. The preliminary plans for this great undertaking, including the concept of a central concrete tower to serve as anchorage between the two suspension spans, were developed in his office and under his direction.
Because of failing health he spent his last years in California. He died in Los Angeles in his eightieth year.
(Bound in thin flexible green cloth covered boards with gi...)
(Excerpt from Memories and Impressions of Helena Modjeska:...)
a member of the American Philosophical Society, a member of the National Academy of Sciences
A small man of rather a delicate frame and features, Modjeski habitually wore a neatly trimmed Vandyke beard and mustache. He was, it has been said, "inclined to be reserved rather than expansive and did not readily make close friendships. "
Modjeski became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1887.
On December 28, 1885, Modjeski married a cousin, Felicie Benda of Cracow, by whom he had three children, Felix Bozenta, Marylka (Marie) Stewart, and Charles Emmanuel John. They were divorced in 1931, and on July 7 of that year, he married Mrs. Virginia Mary T. Giblyn.
12 October 1840 - 8 April 1909 Was a Polish-American actress.
21 May 1884 - 30 April 1975
January 9, 1870 – May 16, 1938 Was an American structural engineer who revolutionized the design of bascule bridges.
December 19, 1842 – July 1, 1903 Was trained to be a lawyer, but became an engineer and the leading bridge designer in North America in the late 19th century.
