Clifford Milburn Holland
Born(1883-03-13)March 13, 1883
Somerset, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedOctober 27, 1924(1924-10-27) (aged 41)[1]
Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationHarvard University
OccupationEngineer
SpouseAnna Coolidge Davenport (m. 1908)[2]
Children4 daughters[2]
Engineering career
DisciplineCivil engineer
ProjectsHolland Tunnel

Clifford Milburn Holland (March 13, 1883 – October 27, 1924) was an American civil engineer who oversaw the construction of a number of subway and automobile tunnels in New York City, and for whom the Holland Tunnel is named.

Life

Holland was born in Somerset, Massachusetts.[1] He was the only child of Edward John Holland and Lydia Frances Hood.[3] He attended Cambridge Latin School.[4] Holland graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in 1905 and a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1906.[3] On November 5, 1908, he married Anna Coolidge Davenport (1885–1973), who was originally from Watertown and had graduated from Radcliffe College.[5] They had four daughters.[2]

Immediately after graduation, Holland began his career in New York City working as an assistant engineer on the construction of the Joralemon Street Tunnel. He then served as the engineer-in-charge of construction of the Clark Street Tunnel, 60th Street Tunnel, Montague Street Tunnel and the 14th Street Tunnel.[1][6] Each one was built by boring out a tunnel under the river bed, while keeping it filled with compressed air so the water would not seep into it.[7] A cylinder was pushed into the tunnel to protect the workers and allowing the workers to build a cast-iron lining.[7]

Holland was the first chief engineer on the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel project, earning an annual salary of $10,000.[8] Holland conducted experiments in a small tunnel in a coal mine in Bruceton, Pennsylvania, in order to determine how to safely and sufficiently vent vehicles' carbon monoxide out of the tunnel and keep the passengers safe.[6] Holland designed four ventilation shafts that would bring 3,500,000 cubic feet (99,000 m3) of fresh air into the tunnel every minute.[6] Construction on the tunnel began April 1, 1922, when Holland ceremoniously drove a pick into the ground at Canal and West streets in Manhattan.[9]

The stress and long hours working on the tunnel project caused him to have a nervous breakdown, and he went to a sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan, in order to recover.[1] On October 27, 1924, Holland died of a heart attack there, at the age of 41.[1] He died one day before the final charge of dynamite connected the two tunnels.[10] At the time of his death, he lived at 2416 Avenue J in Midwood, Brooklyn.[10] The funeral service was held at the Lefferts Place Chapel.[10] Milton Harvey Freeman took over as chief engineer on the project after Holland's death.[11] Freeman died five months later.[11]

The project was renamed the Holland Tunnel in his memory by the New York State Bridge and Tunnel Commission and the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission on its opening day, November 12, 1924, sixteen days after Holland's death.[12] At the time it opened, the Holland Tunnel was the first vehicular tunnel in the United States and the fifth in the world.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Aronson, Michael (June 15, 1999). "The Digger Clifford Holland". Daily News. New York, New York. p. 27. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "Engineer Died as He Was Near to Fame: Clifford Holland Was Man Who Made N. Y. Tunnel". The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario, Canada. November 17, 1927. p. 1. Retrieved December 26, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 Weingardt, Richard G. (2005). Engineering Legends: Great American Civil Engineers (32 Profiles of Inspiration and Achievement). Reston, Va.: American Society of Civil Engineers. pp. 45–48. ISBN 0-7844-0801-7.
  4. ↑ Cambridge". The Boston Globe. January 25, 1902. p. 5.
  5. ↑ "Our Neighbors: Somerset". Fall River Daily Evening News (Fall River, Massachusetts). July 27, 1907. p. 5.
  6. 1 2 3 "Engineers Changed By Service Board". The Daily Standard Union (Brooklyn, New York). March 12, 1917. p. 4.
  7. 1 2 "Has Charges of Tunnel Work: C. M. Holland, Formerly of Somerset, to Construct Tubes Under East River". Fall River Daily Evening News (Fall River, Massachusetts). October 28, 1914. p. 7.
  8. ↑ "Former Somerset Man to Build a Tunnel". Fall River Daily Evening News (Fall River, Massachusetts). June 5, 1919. p. 12.
  9. ↑ "Start Work on Tunnel for Vehicles Under Hudson". The Boston Globe. April 1, 1922. p. 2.
  10. 1 2 3 "C. M. Holland, Tube Engineer, Honored at Services Here". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 30, 1924. p. 3.
  11. 1 2 "Big News Briefly Told". Associated Press. Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, New Jersey). March 26, 1925. p. 3.
  12. ↑ "Holland Tunnel". ASCE Metropolitan Section. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Mile-Long Highway Under River". Albany Ledger (Albany, Missouri). November 24, 1927. p. 7.
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