Herman Haupt

At 88 years old, Herman Haupt physical status not available right now. We will update Herman Haupt's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Haupt resigned his commission on September 30, 1835, to accept a job under Henry R Campbell as Assistant Engineer engaged in the surveys of the Allentown road and of the Norristown & Valley Railroad, which opened in 1835 and 15 years later merged into the Chester Valley railroad.

At 19, he was appointed Assistant Engineer in the state service and surveyed the line from Gettysburg to the Potomac across the South Mountain, a right-of-way that became part of the Western Maryland Railroad.

In 1839, Haupt patented a bridge construction technique called the Haupt Truss. Two of his Haupt truss bridges, both built in 1854, still stand in Altoona and Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

In 1840, Haupt was appointed a professor of mathematics and engineering at Pennsylvania College. He drew the attention of J. Edgar Thomson who became chief engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Haupt returned to the railroad business in 1847, accepting a position as construction engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and then becoming its general superintendent from 1849 to 1851. Haupt and Thomson designed the Horseshoe Curve (now a National Historic Landmark) which enabled the Pennsylvania Railroad to cross the Allegheny Mountains and reach Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

From 1851 until 1853, Haupt was the chief engineer of the Southern Railroad of Mississippi, then became the Pennsylvania Railroad's chief engineer until 1856; in the latter position he completed the Mountain Division with the Allegheny Tunnel, opening the line through to Pittsburgh. He was the chief engineer on the five-mile (8 km) Hoosac Tunnel project through the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts from 1856 to 1861.

He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1871.

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