Xanthus Henry Goodnough

Background

Goodnough was born on October 23, 1860, in Brookline, Massachussets, the son of Xanthus and Kate (Harley) Goodnough.

Education

Goodnough attended the Brookline high school and Harvard University, graduating there with the class of 1882.

Career

For a time after leaving college Goodnough was in business in the West, then he devoted his life to engineering, being connected with the city of Boston until 1886. In that year, when the State Board of Health of Massachusetts was re-established under the chairmanship of Dr. Henry P. Walcott, an engineering division was formed to have general oversight of inland waters and to advise the state government and municipalities as to water supply and related problems. Goodnough was made assistant engineer under Frederic Pike Stearns, and in that position he worked with Stearns on the plan for the north metropolitan sewerage system, covering the populous area adjacent to Boston in the valleys of the Charles and Mystic rivers; the plan for the metropolitan water supply to be taken from the south branch of the Nashua River; and the improvement and beautification of the Charles River Basin by the construction of a dam near the East Cambridge Bridge. In 1895, upon Stearns's retirement from the board, Goodnough was made chief engineer, retaining that position until 1914, when, upon a reorganization of the board, he became chief engineer and director of the division of sanitary engineering of the Department of Public Health. His work from 1895 on included the improvement of the Concord and Sudbury rivers, the improvement of the Neponset River, the enlargement of the south metropolitan sewerage system, and the improvement of the Mystic and Merrimack rivers. He also supervised investigation of local water supplies and aided in designing sewerage systems for several municipal districts in the state. Upon leaving the Department of Health, he formed a partnership with Bayard F. Snow, under the firm name of X. Henry Goodnough, Incorporated, and engaged in private engineering practice. His death occurred five years later, on August 10, 1935, at Waterford, Maine. He was an authority on subjects connected with his work and was the author of many articles and reports. Probably his most important article was that entitled "Rainfall in New England, " a compilation of rainfall records, published first in the Journal of the New England Water Works Association for September 1915.

Achievements

• Goodnough is best remembered as chairman of Boston's Metropolitan Water District in the 1920s and chief advocate for creation of the Quabbin Reservoir project.

Connections

Goodnough married Maria Trow Dyer on October 5, 1892.

Father:

Xanthus Goodnough

Mother:

Kate Harley

Spouse:

Maria Trow Dyer

References

• Journal of the New England Water Works Association