Photo credit: HABS
William Le Baron Jenney (25 September 1832—14 June 1907) was an American architect and engineer who became known as the Father of the American skyscraper. He was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts on September 25, 1832. His family celebrated a strong Puritan influence. His grandfather, Levi Jenney (1778-1849), was a shipping Captain. His father, William Proctor Jenney (1802-1881), was the owner of a shipping company, which allowed Jenney to travel as a young man.
Jenney first began his formal education at the Lawrence Scientific school at Harvard in 1853, but transferred to L'École Centrale des Artes et Manufactures in Paris to get an education in engineering and architecture. He later returned to US to join the Union Army as an engineer in the Civil War in 1861, designing fortifications for Generals Sherman and Grant. By the end of the war, he had become a major, and was Engineer-in-Charge at Nashville's Union headquarters. After the war, in 1867, Jenney moved to Chicago, Illinois and began his own architectural office, which specialized in commercial buildings and urban planning. During the late 1870s, he commuted weekly to Ann Arbor, Michigan to start and teach in the architecture program at the University of Michigan. In later years future leaders of the Chicago School like Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, William Holabird, and Martin Roche, performed their architectural apprenticeships on Jenney's staff. (more…)