CLASS OF 1885

Ralph Henry Brown died in Worcester, Mass., February 22, 1919, of pneumonia, after a short illness.

He was the son of Richard and Thalia F. (Newton) Brown, and was born in Canfield, Ohio, August 1, 1860. He fitted for college at the Canfield High School, and was for a time a student at Wooster University, Ohio. After leaving college he engaged in work as land and mine surveyor, but feeling the need of further professional training he came to Hanover in the fall of 1883 and entered the Thayer School.

After graduation he entered the employ of the Boston Bridge Works as assistant engineer, and remained with this company for fifteen years, being six years assistant engineer, three years engineer in charge of the estimating department, and six years chief engineer. During his term as chief engineer, the Boston Bridge Works designed and built highway bridges over the Kennebec river between Fairfield and Benton, Me, over the Back river at Portland, Me., many railroad bridges, and the steel framework of many important buildings. In 1900 he associated himself with A. S. Miller, Jr., in organizing the Eastern Bridge and Structural Company of Worcester, and during the remainder of his life devoted himself to building up this company. Mr. Brown was a skillful and ingenious designer, thoroughly grounded in the theory and practice of his art, and expert in economizing material and labor. Largely by his ability and industry, his company has built up an enviable reputation among the users of structural steel in the eastern United States.

Mr. Brown was a member of the Engineers' Club of Boston, the Worcester Club, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was actively interested in Masonry, was a Knight Templar, and had taken nearly all the Scottish Rite degrees.

August 21, 1889, he was married to Ella Gertrude Gardner of Brockton, Mass., who died in March, 1904, leaving a son and a daughter. In December, 1918, he made a second marriage with Miss S. F. Palmer.