William Barclay Parsons

Who was William Barclay Parsons?

William Barclay Parsons was an American civil engineer. He founded the firm that became Parsons Brinckerhoff, one of the largest American civil engineering firms.

He was the son of William Barclay Parsons and Eliza Livingston Glass. He was the great-grandson of Henry Barclay, second Rector of Trinity Church. In 1871 he went to school in Torquay, England, and for the four years following studied under private tutors while traveling in France, Germany and Italy.

Parsons received a bachelor's degree from Columbia College in 1879, and a second from Columbia's School of Mines in 1882. As an undergraduate, he served as class president and, in 1877, co-founded the Columbia Daily Spectator. Spec was a literary magazine in Parsons' age; now it is the second-oldest continuously operating college news daily. He later served as chairman of the University's board of trustees.

From 1882 to the end of 1885, he was in the maintenance of way department of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad. His first books had to do with railroad problems, and this interest in rail transportation continued throughout his life.