Hyde, McFarlan & Burke

Last updated

Hyde, McFarlan & Burke (sometimes given as Hyde, McFarlane & Burke; Hyde, McFarland & Burke; and Hyde, McFarlin & Burke [1] ) was a construction firm that operated in the early 20th century from offices at 90 West Street in New York City [2] and Madison, New Jersey. [3] The company did much work for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, including the construction of miles 60.8 to 65.8 of the landmark Lackawanna Cut-Off, which required the movement of millions of tons of fill material using techniques similar to those used on the Panama Canal. [4]

90 West Street building in New York City

90 West Street is a building in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and structural engineer Gunvald Aus for the West Street Improvement Corporation. When completed in 1907, the building's Gothic styling and ornamentation served to emphasize its 23-story height, and foreshadowed Gilbert's later work on the Woolworth Building. Originally built as an office building, the main tenant was the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and the top floor was occupied by Garret's Restaurant, which advertised itself as the "world's highest restaurant".

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

Madison, New Jersey Borough in New Jersey, United States

Madison is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 15,845, reflecting a drop in population of 685 (−4.1%) from the 16,530 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 680 (+4.3%) from the 15,850 counted in the 1990 Census. It is known as "The Rose City" and was named in honor of President James Madison.

Founded as Hyde-McFarlan Co., the firm was renamed after the 1908 arrival of John Burke from Burke Brothers, another firm doing work on the Cut-Off. [5]

Timothy Burke was a businessman who, with his brother John M. Burke, founded the Burke Brothers Construction Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the Scranton, Dunmore, and Moosic Lake Railroad.

In 1921, the firm purchased a used 20-ton Industrial locomotive crane from the Hog Island shipyard south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [6]

Hog Island, Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States

Hog Island is the historic name of an area southeast of Tinicum Township, Pennsylvania along the Delaware River, to the west of the mouth of the Schuylkill River. Philadelphia International Airport now sits on the land that was once Hog Island.

Notes

  1. Steam Shovel and Dredge. International Brotherhood of Steam Shovel and Dredge Men. 1917.
  2. "Machinery Markets and News of the Works". Iron Age. 107: 1151. 1921.
  3. "All Contractors on Lackawanna Track Elevation Project Use Only Yellow Strand". Yellow Strand. 33-36: 5. 1920.
  4. Lowenthal, Larry; William T. Greenberg Jr. (1987). The Lackawanna Railroad in Northwestern New Jersey. Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Inc. pp. 10–98, 101. ISBN   978-0-9607444-2-8.
  5. "Burke Brothers to Dissolve". Steam Shovel and Dredge. 12: 505. January 1908.
  6. "Machinery Markets and News of the Works". The Iron Age. 107: 1151. March 1921.

Related Research Articles

Steam shovel steam-powered excavation machine

A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. Steam shovels played a major role in public works in the 19th and early 20th century, being key to the construction of railroads and the Panama Canal. The development of simpler, cheaper diesel-powered shovels caused steam shovels to fall out of favor in the 1930s.

The Dover and Rockaway Railroad was a section of railroad track completed in 1881 connecting Dover and Rockaway, New Jersey. It formed an important link in the developing U.S. railroad system, connecting major trunks to the New York harbor for freight and provided passenger service to central and southern New Jersey.

Marion Power Shovel Company

Marion Power Shovel Company was an American firm that designed, manufactured and sold steam shovels, power shovels, blast hole drills, excavators, and dragline excavators for use in the construction and mining industries. The company was a major supplier of steam shovels for the construction of the Panama Canal. The company also built the two crawler-transporters used by NASA for transporting the Saturn V rocket and later the Space Shuttle to their launch pads. The company's shovels also played a major role in the digging of the Hoover Dam and the New York City area with the digging of the Holland Tunnel and the extension of the Number 7 subway line to Main Street in Flushing, Queens.

Lackawanna Cut-Off

The Lackawanna Cut-Off was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W) between 1908 and 1911 and it ran from Port Morris Junction in Port Morris, New Jersey, to Slateford Junction in Slateford, Pennsylvania.

Paulinskill Viaduct

The Paulinskill Viaduct, also known as the Hainesburg Viaduct, is a reinforced concrete railroad bridge that crosses the Paulins Kill in Knowlton Township, New Jersey. When completed in 1910, it was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world.

Delaware River Viaduct bridge in United States of America

The Delaware River Viaduct is a reinforced concrete railroad bridge across the Delaware River about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the Delaware Water Gap that was built in 1908-10 as part of the Lackawanna Cut-Off rail line. It is the sister to the line's larger Paulinskill Viaduct. The Delaware River Viaduct also crosses Interstate 80 on the east side of the river and Slateford Road and the Lackawanna Railroad's "Old Road" on the west (Pennsylvania) side. Abandoned in 1983, it is part of a New Jersey Transit proposal to restore passenger service to Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel

The Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, built as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station, is a neoclassical building in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was built as a train station and office building in 1908; closed in 1970; listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 6, 1977; and renovated and reopened as a hotel in 1983.

The Lackawanna Steel Company was an American steel manufacturing company that existed as an independent company from 1840 to 1922, and as a subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel company from 1922 to 1983. Founded by the Scranton family, it was once the second-largest steel company in the world. Scranton, Pennsylvania developed around the company's original location. When the company moved to a suburb of Buffalo, New York, in 1902, it stimulated the founding of the city of Lackawanna.

Marion Steam Shovel (Le Roy, New York)

The Marion Steam Shovel, also known as the Le Roy Steam Shovel, is a historic Model 91 steam shovel manufactured by the Marion Steam Shovel and Dredge Company of Marion, Ohio. It is located on Gulf Road in the Town of Le Roy, New York, United States. Sold to private owner in 2010 and no longer on site.

Walter Hamer Gahagan was an American civil engineer and general contractor who owned a construction business based in Brooklyn, New York, and a shipyard in Arverne, Queens. Among other projects, his firm worked on the Lackawanna Cut-Off, an immense railroad project in northwestern New Jersey.

Andover station (NJ Transit) rail station

Andover is a planned New Jersey Transit passenger railroad station in Andover Township, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States, providing service on its Lackawanna Cut-Off line. The line remains under construction. The station will be built at a site on Andover's Roseville Road, about 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from U.S. Route 206 and about 0.9 miles (1.5 km) from County Route 517. On the rail line, it will be located about 7.3 miles (11.7 km) west of Port Morris Junction at milepost 53.0.

Johnsonburg station

Johnsonburg was a railroad station and was one of the three original stations on the Lackawanna Cut-Off in northwestern New Jersey. Built by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke, the station opened in 1911. Located on the western end of Ramsey Fill in rural Frelinghuysen Township, the station generated only modest passenger and freight business for the railroad. As a result, it was closed in 1940. The station was temporarily reopened in 1941 to serve as a command post for the clearing of the landslide that took place within nearby Armstrong Cut. After the closing of the station building, Johnsonburg continued to be a flag stop on the Cut-Off until the 1960s. A creamery was built by the railroad at the station site and operated for a number of years.

Blairstown station

Blairstown was one of the three original stations on the Lackawanna Cut-Off rail line in northwestern New Jersey. Built by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke, the station opened in 1911. Most passenger trains, such as the Lackawanna Limited and, later, the Phoebe Snow stopped at Blairstown, which also sold commuter tickets. It was the only station on the Cut-Off to remain open until passenger service ended in January 1970. After 1970, the building housed a radio station, WHCY-FM, until the 1990s. The station building is currently privately owned.

Ramsey Fill

Ramsey Fill is one of the fills (embankments) on the Lackawanna Cut-Off railroad line in northwest New Jersey. Located between miles 60.4 and 60.9 in Frelinghuysen Township, the fill was constructed between 1908 and 1911 by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke. The .53-mile (0.85 km) fill has an average height of 21 feet, and a maximum height of 80 feet. It was created with 805,481 cubic yards of fill material obtained by blasting with dynamite or other methods.

Armstrong Cut

Armstrong Cut is one of the largest cuts on the Lackawanna Cut-Off railroad line in northwest New Jersey. Located between approximately mileposts 61.4 and 62.3 in Frelinghuysen Township, the cut was constructed between 1908 and 1911 by contractor Hyde, McFarlan & Burke. The cut, which was created by removing fill material obtained by blasting with dynamite or other methods, is 0.89 miles long, has an average depth of 52 feet, and a maximum depth of 104 feet. The fill was created as a result of the removal of 852,000 cubic yards of fill material from this section of the right-of-way. Armstrong Cut is located on a tangent (straight) section of track, permitting 80 mph (129 km/hr).

Jones Cut

Jones Cut is one of the cuts on the Lackawanna Cut-Off railroad line in northwest New Jersey.

Vail Fill

In this location, which is the tallest part of this embankment, a stream was rechanneled under the road, which itself was realigned with the construction of the Cut-Off. This was done in several locations along the Cut-Off where a road and a stream crossed the right-of-way at approximately the same location.

Lincoln Bush (1860-1940) was an American civil engineer and inventor known for his work with railroads.