Harry Thomas Cory

Who was Harry Thomas Cory?

Harry Thomas Cory was an American engineer and professor. He was born in Lafayette, Indiana, the son of Thomas and Carrie Cory.

Cory received his Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1889 and advanced degrees in 1893 and 1896 from Cornell University. He married Ida Judd Hiller on October 4, 1911.

He was a professor of civil engineering at the University of Missouri from 1893–98 and a professor of sanitary engineering deom 1898-1900. He was the Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati from 1900-02.

From 1902 to 1911 he held several positions with railway firms including Assistant to the General Manager for the Southern Pacific Company from 1904–1905 and Assistant to the President of Harriman Lines, Arizona and Mexico from 1905-11. He was also the General Manager and Chief Engineer, California Development Company and La Sociedad de Riego Terrenos de la Baja California, S.A., where he worked on irrigation systems for the Imperial Valley and was in charge of re-diversion of the Colorado River from the Salton Sea, 1906-07.

Cory was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Bohemian Club, the Faculty Club. He was also an American member of the Nile Commission.