Benjamin Franklin Cresson

author

Benjamin Franklin Cresson

1873–1923

A civil engineer and technical writer of the early 20th century, he is remembered for clear, detailed accounts of major railroad and construction work. His published work is closely tied to the big infrastructure projects that helped reshape New York in his era.

1 Audiobook

Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910

Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910

by Benjamin Franklin Cresson

About the author

Born in 1873 and deceased in 1923, Benjamin Franklin Cresson Jr. was an American civil engineer whose writing grew out of hands-on work in large transportation and construction projects. Surviving records consistently identify him as Benjamin Franklin Cresson Jr., and his career is associated with the professional engineering world of the early 1900s.

He is best known in print for technical writing rather than fiction, especially work connected with railroad engineering. References to his publications link him to discussions of the Pennsylvania Railroad's New York tunnel extension and related infrastructure, suggesting a career spent close to some of the most ambitious urban engineering projects of his time.

Because readily available biographical sources are limited, many personal details are harder to confirm with confidence. What does come through clearly is the picture of a specialist author: someone who wrote to explain how complex projects were designed and built, leaving behind a useful record of an important period in American engineering.