PROFESSOR HIRAM M. CHITTENDEN

1894 - 1971

The professor was the son of Brig. Gen. Hiram M. Chittenden, who primarily was responsible for the design of the Ballard Locks and for whom the locks.are named.

A native of Arcade, N.Y., Professor Chittenden came to Seattle in 1906, when the elder Chittenden became district engineer for the Corps of Engineers. The young Chittenden graduated from Broadway High School and received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the U.W. in 1920 and a Civil Engineering degree in 1935. From 1917-1919 he was a 2nd Lieutenant in Field Artillery.

He began his university teaching career in 1923. While at the university, he worked summers in various organizations including Phillips Petroleum where he did control surveys in northern British Columbia and Alberta. He also served as a design engineer for construction of the Alcan Highway. His work for the National Park Service included duties in connection with location and construction of the Stevens Canyon Road in Mount Rainier National Park.

Professor Chittenden was one of the original members of the State Advisory Board on Surveys and Maps, on which he served from 1951 to 1971. For nine summers he was involved in a training program for technicians of the State Highway Department.

He was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, the American Society of Civil Engineers, The American Society of Photogrammetry and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.


He retired as Associate Professor of Civil Engineering in 1965 after some 42 years on the faculty. His specialty fields were surveying, photogrammetry and highway design.