Frank Osborn
- David Hegler
- Jul 22
- 3 min read
While Osborn Engineering is widely renowned for its innovative designs of stadiums, little is remembered of the company's founder. This is the story of Frank Osborn.
The Early Years
Frank Osborn was born on December 18, 1857 in Maple Grove, Michigan. As the middle son of Reuben and Livonia Osborn, he watched as his father served the community as the town clerk and treasurer while still performing his duties as a senior physician at the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company as well as serving as the vice president of the Merchants and Miners Bank of Calumet and a director at Farmdale Land and Livestock Company as well as state senator. Watching his father work all those long hours at all of those jobs sparked something in young Frank and although he didn't yet know what he wanted to do, he knew that work was the only way to go about life.
Building a Portfolio
After graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a civil engineering degree in 1880, Frank Osborn began his career in Kentucky, working as an assistant engineer for the Louisville Bridge and Iron Company. He rose quickly through the firm and just four months later was promoted to principal assistant engineer.
In 1885, he moved to Pittsburgh where he worked for one of Andrew Carnegie's companies, the Keystone Bridge Company. Two years later, he moved on to the G.W. G. Ferris and Company, specializing in the inspection and design of major structural steel works around America. While there, he spent much of his time serving as a mentor to the younger engineers, particularly fellow RPI alumni.
Osborn Engineering
In 1892, Osborn founded his own firm. He was just 34 years old and the country was in the middle of a financial collapse. While much looked bleak in the early going, Frank Osborn's ability to diversity helped him survive the lean years, concentrating on bridges in cities all across the midwest. Slowly but surely, the public began to see his expertise in using reinforced concrete as a key construction component.
He really made a name for himself when he designed the Y-Bridge in Zanesville, Ohio, at the time, the largest reinforced concrete bridge in America. He followed that up by designing the Maumee River Bridge in Toledo, giving it seven large reinforced concrete arches that were immediately the envy of the architectural world.
He soon graduated to designing entire buildings, including nine Portland cement plants that produced a whopping 17,000 barrels a day and numerous facilities throughout his hometown of Cleveland such as a Firestone Tire and Rubber plant, the Union Club, Public Hall, Music Hall and Gray's Armory.
In 1910, his company had grown significantly and was tasked with its first project in the sports world, a nifty little ballpark in Cleveland soon to be named League Park. It was one of the first ballparks to be built entirely of concrete and steel and with the public already weary of the constant fires that often took their beloved ballparks way too soon, Osborn Engineering really took off. Soon ballparks and stadium began popping up all over the East Coast such as Griffith Stadium and the Polo Grounds (1911), Tiger Stadium (1912) and Braves Field (1915).
After Frank Osborn's death on January 31, 1922, his son continued to build upon his legacy, setting the bar higher and higher as the years went on bye. Massive Stadiums such as Kansas City Municipal Stadium and Yankee Stadium (1923), Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium (1924), Notre Dame Stadium (1929), Cleveland Municipal Stadium (1931), Milwaukee County Stadium (1951), RFK Stadium (1959), Three Rivers Stadium and its three cookie cutter siblings in the 1970's as well as Cleveland's Jacobs Field in 1994 made Osborn Engineering an endearing icon in architecture, paving the way for newer and grander stadiums that could truly stand the test of time.
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