Theodore Temple Knappen

Background

Theodore Temple Knappen was born on November 21, 1900 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, the son of Theodore Macfarlane Knappen, an economist and journalist, and Nellie Cross Knappen. He grew up in Minneapolis.

Education

In 1917 Theodore attended the University of California. Transferring to West Point, he graduated with the Bachelor of Science degree in 1920. In 1922 he received a civil engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Career

Knappen began service as a second lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers in 1920. In 1923 he joined the San Francisco engineering firm of Bissel and Sinnicks as an assistant engineer. In 1924 Knappen began working as an assistant hydraulic engineer for the city of Vallejo, California. In the same month he became designing and resident engineer for Nevada County, California; he participated in a series of irrigation and hydroelectric projects until the city of San Francisco appointed him hydraulic engineer for the Hetch-Hetchy water supply project in the spring of 1928. Knappen served only a few months with the project, however, and managed to avoid any direct involvement with the controversy over the proposed use of water from Yosemite National Park in the Hetch-Hetchy Valley.

In August 1928 Knappen took a civilian position with the Corps of Engineers as area engineer for the Memphis Engineering Distric of the newly inaugurated federal Mississippi flood control project. He made important contributions to levee and floodway construction while directing a project that involved the erection of a series of back levees thirty-five miles long, running from Bird's Point to New Madrid, Missouri. The back levees created a floodway, lying between the old and new levees, which provided better flood protection for Cairo, Illinois, and the surrounding countryside. They cut across the natural drainage of the area and thus required the construction of a series of bridges, ditches, and culverts, calling for the use of the most modern equipment and leading to significant modifications in levee construction techniques. Knappen explained the importance of the project and the new developments in levee building in several articles in Engineering News-Record during 1931.

In 1934, Knappen moved to another position with the corps, as chief of the engineering division of the Muskingum flood control project in Ohio. This project involved the construction of a series of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts within the Muskingum watershed of southern Ohio. Knappen's contributions to soil mechanics followed his establishment of a laboratory for testing and analyzing the soil to be used in the earthen dams of the project. The results of his research appeared in a series of articles in Engineering News-Record in 1934 and 1936.

From August 1936 to July 1937, Knappen served as consultant and chief of the flood control section of the North Atlantic division of the Corps of Engineers. He left the corps in 1937 to take charge of the Caracas, Venezuela, office of the consulting firm of Parsons, Klapp, Brinckerhoff, and Douglas. While in Venezuela he directed the design of the ports of Ciudad Bolívar, Cuman , and Carapano and reported on the nation's water-supply system.

In the meantime, Knappen had become a full partner of the Parsons firm. In November 1942, however, he left Parsons to form his own company, Knappen Engineering.

Achievements

• Theodore Temple Knappen was recognized for his work on various engineering projects, including hydroelectric and irrigation projects throughout the United States and around the world. He participated in port design projects in Venezuela and others in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Buffalo, and Miami. His company "Knappen Engineering" became one of the nation's leading firms in this field and planned several projects in Turkey and Haiti, a vehicle tunnel in Buenos Aires, subway in S030 Paulo and port improvements in Tel Aviv and Haifa, Israel, in 1949-1950.

Connections

Knappen married Blanche Miller Walker on March 12, 1925. It is uncertain how or when his first marriage ended, but in May 1942 he married Betty Walker; they had one child. On September 29, 1945, after the death of his second wife in the previous year, Knappen married Georgianna Ferguson. They had two children, the second born shortly after Knappen's death.

Father:

Theodore Macfarlane Knappen

economist, journalist

Mother:

Nellie Cross Knappen

Spouse:

Betty Walker

Spouse:

Georgianna Ferguson

Spouse:

Blanche Miller Walker

References

• Hydraulicians in the USA 1800-2000: A biographical dictionary of leaders in hydraulic engineering and fluid mechanics (IAHR Monographs)