Horace King (architect)

Infobox Person
name = Horace King


image_size = 140px
caption = Horace King, ca. 1855
birth_date = birth date|1807|9|8|mf=y
birth_place = Chesterfield County, South Carolina, U.S.
death_date = death date and age|1885|5|28|1807|9|8
death_place = Lagrange, Georgia, U.S.
occupation = Architect, Engineer, Contractor
spouse =
parents =
children =

Horace King (sometimes Horace Godwin) (September 8, 1807 – May 28, 1885) was an American architect, engineer, and bridge builder. [Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia, " [http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/gahistmarkers/horacekinghistmarker.htm Horace King Historical Marker] ", retrieved November 3, 2007.] King is considered the most respected bridge builder of the 19th century Deep South, constructing dozens of bridges in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. ["The New Georgia Encyclopedia"," [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-710 Horace King (1807-1885)] ", retrieved November 3, 2007.] Born into slavery in South Carolina in 1807, King became a prominent bridge architect and construction manager in the Chattahoochee River Valley region of Alabama and Georgia before purchasing his freedom in 1846. He went on to construct lattice truss bridges in the style of Ithiel Town at every major crossing of the Chattahoochee River and over every major river in the Deep South between the Oconee and Tombigbee. ["The New Georgia Encyclopedia", [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-710 "Horace King (1807-1885)"] ; John S. Lupold and Thomas L. French, "Bridging Deep South Rivers: The Life and Legend of Horace King", (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2004), 20-21.] King served as a Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives from 1868 to 1872. [Historic Chattahoochee Commission, " [http://www.hcc-al-ga.org/tour_markers.cfm?GetPage=1&County=7 Chattahoochie Trace Historic Markers] ", retrieved November 3, 2007.]

Early career

Horace King was born as a slave in the Cheraw District of South Carolina, in present-day Chesterfield County, in 1807. King's ancestry was primarily African and Catawba, with contemporary biographer F.L. Cherry describing his complexion as showing more "Indian blood than any other." [F.L. Cherry, "The History of Opelika and Her Agricultural Tributary Territory", "The Alabama Historical Quarterly" 15, No. 2 (1953), 193, 197.] Records indicate King spent his first 23 years near his birthplace, with his first introduction to bridge construction in 1824. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 14, 20.] In 1824, bridge architect Ithiel Town came to Cheraw to assist in the construction of a bridge over the Pee Dee River. While it is unknown whether King assisted in the construction of this bridge or its replacement span built in 1828, Town's lattice truss design used in both Pee Dee bridges became a hallmark of King's future work. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 20]

When King's master died around 1830, King was sold to John Godwin, a contractor who also worked on the Pee Dee bridge. [Cherry, "History of Opelika", 197; Lupold and French, "Bridging Deep South Rivers", 20.] In 1832, Godwin received a contract to construct a 560-foot (170-m) bridge across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia into Girard, Alabama (today Phenix City). He and King moved to Girard that year to work on the project, which was completed in 1833. [Lupold and French, "Bridging Deep South Rivers", 51.] This bridge was the first known to be built by King, who likely planned the construction of the bridge and managed the slave laborers who built the span. ["The New Georgia Encyclopedia", [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-710 "Horace King (1807-1885)"] . ]

Rise to prominence

Between the completion of the "Godwin-King Bridge" in Columbus in 1833 and the early 1840s, King and Godwin partnered on no fewer than eight major construction projects throughout the South. The partners constructed some forty cotton warehouses in Apalachicola, Florida in 1834, the courthouses of Muscogee County, Georgia and Russell County, Alabama from 1839-1841, and bridges in West Point, Georgia (1838), Eufaula, Alabama (1838-39), Florence, Georgia (1840), and Columbus (1841), replacing their original span which had been destroyed in a flood in 1838. [Lupold and French, "Bridging Deep South Rivers", 83-84; Cherry, "History of Opelika", 194.] By 1840, King was being publicly acknowledged as being a "co-builder" along with his master, an uncommon honor for a slave. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 83] In the 1840s, King's prominence eclipsed that of his master, and he worked independently as architect and superintendent of major bridge projects in Wetumpka, Alabama and Columbus, Mississippi. ["The New Georgia Encyclopedia", [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-710 "Horace King (1807-1885)"] .] While working on the Eufaula bridge, King met Tuscaloosa attorney and entrepreneur Robert Jemison, Jr., who soon began using King on a number of different projects in Lowndes County, Mississippi, including the 420-foot (130-m) Columbus, Mississippi bridge, and who would remain King's friend and associate for the rest of his life. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 100, 121.]

Freedom

Despite his enslavement, King was allowed a significant income from his work and, in 1846, used some of his earnings to purchase his freedom from Godwin. However, under Alabama law of the time, a freed slave was only allowed to remain in the state for a year after manumission. Robert Jemison, who served in the Alabama State Senate, arranged for the state legislature to pass a special law giving King his freedom and exempting him from the manumission law. In 1852, King used this freedom to purchase land near his former master. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 123-130.]

In 1849, the Alabama State Capitol burned, and King was hired to construct the framework of the new capitol building, as well as design and build the double spiral entry staircases. King used his knowledge of bridge-building to cantilever the stairs' support beams so that the staircases appeared to "float", without any central support. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 134-135.]

Around 1855, King formed a partnership with two other men to construct a bridge, known as "Moore's Bridge" over the Chattahoochee between Newnan and Carrollton, Georgia, near Whitesburg. Instead of collecting a fee for his work, King took stock instead, gaining a one-third interest in the bridge. King soon moved his family to Carroll County, adjacent to the bridge, though continued to maintain his home in Girard. The income from Moore's bridge allowed King a steady income, though he continued to design and construct major bridge projects through the remainder of the 1850s, including a major bridge in Milledgeville, Georgia and a second Chattahoochee crossing in Columbus, Georgia. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 143-150.]

War times

before returning to Columbus in 1863. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 163-167.]

By this time, Columbus had become a major shipbuilding city for the Confederacy, and King and his men were assigned to assist construction of naval vessels at the Columbus Iron Works and Navy Yard. In 1863-64, King constructed a rolling mill for the Iron Works, providing cladding for Confederate ironclad warships. King's crews also provided lumber and timbers for the Navy Yard, and was at least peripherally involved with the construction of the "CSS Muscogee". [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 167-169.]

As the war approached its end in 1864, many of King's bridges were destroyed by Union troops, including Moore's Bridge, which King owned. Raiders under Union general James H. Wilson assaulted Columbus in April 1865, burning all of King's bridges in the city, including the one he had finished less than two years earlier. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 174-175, 178-181.]

King and Reconstruction

The destruction of the war led to new opportunities for King. Within six months after the war's end, King and a partner had constructed a 32,000 ft² (3,000 m²) cotton warehouse in Columbus and King had—for the third time—rebuilt the original Godwin-King bridge. Over the next three years, King would construct three more bridges across the Chattahoochee in Columbus, a major bridge in West Point, Georgia, two large factories, and the Lee County, Alabama courthouse. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 182-195, 210.]

When the Reconstruction Acts were implemented in 1867, King became a registrar for voters in Russell County, Alabama. Later that year, he attempted to establish a colony of freedmen in Georgia. While that plan was unsuccessful, King went on to be elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1868 as a Republican representing Russell County. King, though, busy in his construction business in Columbus, did not take his seat until over a year later, in November 1869. King remained a reluctant legislator, voting only 78% of the time and proposing only three bills—none of which became law. Despite his lethargy, King was reelected in 1870, proposing no bills in the 1870-71 session and only five in the 1871-72 session, one of which—a prohibition on the sale of alcohol in Hurtsboro, Alabama—became law. King did not seek reelection in 1872. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 211-221.]

Final years

After King left the Alabama legislature in 1872, he moved to LaGrange, Georgia. While in LaGrange, King continued building bridges, but also expanded to include other construction projects, specifically businesses and schools. By the mid-1870s, King had begun to pass on his bridge construction activities to his five children, who formed the King Brothers Bridge Company. King's health began failing in the 1880s, and he died on May 28, 1885 in LaGrange. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 223-239.]

King received laudatory obituaries in each of Georgia's major newspapers, a rarity for African-Americans in the 1880s South. King was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Engineers Hall of Fame at the University of Alabama. The award was accepted on his behalf by his great grandson, Horace H. King Jr. [ [http://youtube.com/watch?v=fhxIsurIR4g&feature=related YouTube - "HORACE: The Bridge Builder King" Part VI ] ] He was remembered both for his engineering skill and for his character and ability to bridge the gap between the races. [Lupold and French, "Deep South Rivers", 239-240; [http://www.dot.state.ga.us/specialsubjects/specialinterest/covered/builders.shtml Horace King (1807-1888) Georgia's Master Bridge Builder] , retrieved November 4, 2007.]

See also

* F.L. Cherry, "The History of Opelika and Her Agricultural Tributary Territory", "The Alabama Historical Quarterly" 15, No. 2 (1953), Chapter V.
* John S. Lupold and Thomas L. French, "Bridging Deep South Rivers: The Life and Legend of Horace King", (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2004), ISBN 0-8203-2626-7.
*"HORACE: The Bridge Builder King" (Documentary), Produced by Tom C. Lenard. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQWPX3oaNU Part I] [http://youtube.com/watch?v=f2yu7WMxbVc Part II] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faVy6R22dkE Part III] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFTB0zQzBOk Part IV] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfnIyphucJc Part V] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhxIsurIR4g Part VI] (YouTube).

Notes and references