Harry Northrop Howe (1882 - 1960)

Born 13 Jan 1882 in Fulton, Oswego, New York, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Ethel Frank (Warner) Howe — married 25 Mar 1913 in Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA

Descendants

Died 3 Oct 1960 at age 78 in Memphis, Shelby, Tennessee, USA

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Biography

Parents (Henry Clay Howe, attorney & state legislator, and Marion Dorleski Northrop) were natives of New York state and were representatives of old families of New York and of New England. Harry graduated from Cornell studying civil engineering, graduating in 1904. He moved to Memphis & was later appointed a member of the Memphis City Commission and was made Commissioner of Bridges, Streets and Sewers. March, 25, 1913 he married to Ethel Frank Warner (1888-1970), a native of Nappanee, Ontario, Canada. Ethel was raised in Denver, CO. Issue: Warner & Harriet. Prominent structural engineer in Memphis. Member, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club , University Club, Memphis Engineers Club, American Society of Civil Engineers and American Concrete Institute.

Harry's father (an attorney) died when he was 7 years old. His mother raised him in Washington DC and worked there to support them. He attended Central HS in DC. Came to Memphis 1905-06 to work w/ the Army Engineers on the Miss. River. Returned to work in NY City in 1906. Returned to Memphis in 1907 & opened Gardener & Howe in 1907. Distinguished career.

HARRY NORTHROP HOWE Harry Northrop Howe, a structural engineer of Memphis with offices on the seventh floor of the Dr. D. T. Porter building, and serving at the present time as a member of the commission form of government, as commissioner of bridges, streets and sewers, is a native of the state of New York, his birth having occurred in Fulton, Oswego county, January 13,1882. He is a son of Henry Clay and Marion D. (Northrop) Howe, the former a lawyer, who died in 1889, while the latter is now living in Memphis with her son, Harry. Both parents were natives of the Empire state and were representatives of old families of New York and of New England.

Harry N. Howe was reared in New York to the age of eight years and then removed with his mother to Washington, D. C., where he obtained his grammar school education and afterward was graduated from the Central high school as a member of the class of 1900. Immediately afterward he matriculated in Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, and pursued a course in civil engineering there, being graduated with the class of 1904. On the 1st of July of the same year he arrived in Memphis and has remained here almost continuously since engaged in the practice of his profession as a civil and structural engineer. During a period of eighteen months, however, covering the years of 1906 and 1907, he was in New York city in the employ of a large construction company. His work has been of an important character, as he early demonstrated his ability to handle important engineering problems and to execute contracts of large magnitude. In March, 1921, he was appointed a member of the Memphis city commission and was made commissioner of bridges, streets and sewers to fill out the unexpired term of John B. Edgar, resigned, being chosen for the office by the other members of the commission. During the two years of his service in this connection he has made a most enviable record through his professional skill and his devotion to the general good.

On the 25th of March, 1913, Mr. Howe was married to Miss Ethel Warner, a native of Nappanee, Ontario, Canada, and they are parents of a son, Warner, three years of age. Mr. Howe belongs to the Memphis Chamber of Commerce, which indicates his deep interest in the welfare and progress of the city along all the lines of civic development and improvement. He is likewise a member of the Rotary Club and of the University Club and along professional lines he is associated with the Memphis Engineers Club, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Concrete Institute. Since deciding upon his life work he has been a close and discriminating student of the science of his profession and is constantly broadening his knowledge by reading as well as by practical experience. Those who know him-and he has a wide acquaintance--recognize his power and feel that interests such as claim his attention could not be placed in more competent hands. His work is highly satisfactory to those who employ him and is proving of much worth to the city through his activity as commissioner of bridges, streets and sewers.

FAG - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9573670/harry-northrop-howe

Sources

• Tennessee The Volunteer State Vol 2

TENNESSEE The Volunteer State 1769--1923 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME II CHICAGO NASHVILLE THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1923 Biographies of professional individuals residing in Tennessee from 1769-1923 FAG Granddaughter, Brenda Black Watson