Archie Alexander

1888 ~ 1958

Design and Construction Engineer

Archie Alexander, a design and construction engineer, left his stamp on the landscape of America by building bridges, freeways, airfields, railroad trestles and power plants.

Born in Iowa, Alexander attended the State University and received an engineering degree in 1912.  After several years as a design engineer, he and a former classmate established their own engineering firm and constructed major projects across the Nation.  Starting at home, they built the heating plant and powerhouse at the University of Iowa, a sewage treatment plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, an airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama, and the Tidal Basin bridge and seawall and the Whitehurst Freeway in Washington, D.C.

Alexander received many awards during the course of his career.  At the centennial celebration of the University of Iowa in 1947, he was named one of its outstanding alumni.  In 1954, President Eisenhower honored him with the appointment as Territorial Governor of the Virgin Islands.