George Washington Whistler

Who was George Washington Whistler?

George W. Whistler was a prominent American railroad engineer in the first half of the 19th century.

George was born at the military outpost of Fort Wayne which his father, John Whistler, had helped build. His mother was Anna Bishop, daughter of Sir Edward Bishop of Great Britain.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1819 and served in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, retiring as a First Lieutenant in 1833. In 1834 he became Chief Engineer at the Proprietors of Locks and Canals in the new city of Lowell, Massachusetts. During his time in Lowell, he was responsible for early American locomotive designs, and his sons, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and William McNeill Whistler were born. He left Lowell in 1837 and was followed by his apprentice, James B Francis. He took up a position with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which sent him to England to learn more about railroad technology. He was involved in the construction of several U.S. railroads, including the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad, Stonington, and Western railroads. In 1835, he worked with Patrick Tracy Jackson to begin the Boston & Lowell Railroad.