
Archie Alexander
1888 ~ 1958
Design and Construction
Engineer
Archie Alexander, a
design and construction engineer, left his stamp on the landscape of America by
building bridges, freeways, airfields, railroad trestles and power plants.
Born in Iowa,
Alexander attended the State University and received an engineering degree in
1912. After several years as a design engineer, he and a former classmate
established their own engineering firm and constructed major projects across the
Nation. Starting at home, they built the heating plant and powerhouse at
the University of Iowa, a sewage treatment plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, an
airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama, and the Tidal Basin bridge and seawall and the
Whitehurst Freeway in Washington, D.C.
Alexander received
many awards during the course of his career. At the centennial celebration
of the University of Iowa in 1947, he was named one of its outstanding
alumni. In 1954, President Eisenhower honored him with the appointment as
Territorial Governor of the Virgin Islands.