author
Halbert Powers Gillette
b. 1869
A pioneering American engineer, contractor, and editor, this prolific writer helped shape how builders and engineers thought about costs, efficiency, and large public works. His books and handbooks turned practical field experience into guidance that professionals could use every day.
1 Audiobook
Concrete Construction: Methods and Costs
by Halbert Powers Gillette, Charles Shattuck Hill
About the author
Born in Waverly, Iowa, on August 5, 1869, he built a career that moved through hands-on engineering, contracting, and technical publishing. He worked as an assistant New York state engineer, later became a contractor, and also served as an associate editor of Engineering News, giving him both field experience and a wide view of the industry.
He is best remembered for writing and editing influential textbooks and handbooks on engineering and construction. His work focused especially on costs, productivity, excavation, concrete work, and construction management, and his practical approach made his books useful to working engineers as well as students.
Over time, his name became closely associated with the growing professionalism of early twentieth-century engineering. He died in 1958, leaving behind a substantial body of technical writing that reflected both the scale of American infrastructure projects and the everyday realities of getting them built.