Robert Gillham (1855-1899) Papers (KC0056)


Robert Gillham, born in New York, studied engineering in Hackensack, New Jersey before entering the profession in 1874. After four years of practice as a civil engineer in New York, Gillham relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, where he remained for the rest of his life. Gillham specialized in the design and construction of cable car systems. He designed and constructed the Ninth Street Incline and the Eight Street Tunnel, as well as being connected with virtually every other cable car system built in Kansas City in the late nineteenth century. Gillham capped his engineering career with the construction of the Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Gulf Railroad and its terminus at Port Arthur, Texas. He then became general manager of the railroad before his death on May 19, 1899.

This volume of field notes relates to Gillham's work on the design and construction of the Kansas City Cable Railway. It includes field notes, cost calculations, sketches, test results, computations, and other data. 1887-1890.

1 volume.

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