Gottlieb Schumacher

Who was Gottlieb Schumacher?

Gottlieb Schumacher was an American civil engineer, architect and archaeologist who was an important figure in the early archaeological explorations of Palestine. He was of German descent.

Schumacher was born in Zanesville, Ohio, where his parents had immigrated from Tübingen, Germany. His father Jacob Schumacher was a member of the Temple Society, a German Protestant sect which in the 1860s established a colony in Haifa, Palestine. In 1869, Jacob Schumacher settled with his family in the Templer colony, where he became the chief architect and builder.

Gottlieb studied engineering in Germany, and then returned to Palestine in 1881.

He quickly became a leading figure in the construction of roads and houses. He was appointed Chief Engineer for the Province of Akko by the Ottoman government. Among his many works were the Scottish hostels in Safed and Tiberias, the Russian hostel in Nazareth, the cellars of the Rothschild winery at Rishon LeZion, and the bridge over the Kishon River.

One of his most important projects was the survey of the Golan, Hauran, and Ajlun districts, in preparation for the construction of the Damascus-Haifa railway, which branched off from the Hejaz railway at Deraa. As part of the same development he also extended the mole of the port of Haifa. In the course of this survey he produced the first accurate maps of these regions, along with detailed descriptions of the archaeological remains and the contemporary villages.