Wright Hall is a
residence hall formerly located in
the
Northwest Quadrangle at the
University of Connecticut. Sadly, it
has since been
replaced by a
dining hall, but it used to be the
lab science/
engineering
dorm at
UConn. It's hallowed corridors, especially the third floor
hallway, known as
Wright 3rd, gave rise to much
geekdom, and many
late night
discussions. The concept of the
psycho hos beast was
derived during
one of these
late night rambles.
The hall was named after
Benjamin Wright, born in Wethersfield,
Connecticut, to Ebenezer and Brace Butler Wright, on October 10, 1770.
Benjamin
Wright was a senior engineer on the
Erie Canal and was named the official "Father
of American Civil Engineering" by the
Society of Civil Engineering.
Skilled at
mathematics, Wright studied
surveying. He
saw the opportunities for
surveyors in the new settlements of the
Mohawk Valley
in
New York, and he convinced his father to move to Fort Stanwix (now
Rome),
New York, in 1789. Here Wright became interested in the transporting
of goods to market. Seeing that the roads were as poor as trails and their
chances for imporvement slight, he focused on
canals. Wright surveyed for the
Western Inland Lock Navigation Company and at the same time became a leading
member of the community. He married Philomel Waterman of Plymouth,
Connecticut; the two had nine
children. Wright was elected to the
New
York state legislature and was made a county
judge in 1813.
In 1816 the
Erie Canal project was launched, with
Wright
in charge of the middle section. The first ground was broken July 4,
1817, in
Rome. After completing the middle section, Wright took charge
of the ardous eastern division. The construction teams completed the
canal in 1825.
The sucess of the
canal stirred other states to improve
their transportation systems, and
Wright was called upon to play a role. He
constructed on the
Farmington Canal in
Connecticut, as well as the
St. Lawrence
Ship Canal in 1833, the
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal from 1828 to 1831, and
for railroads in
New York,
Virginia,
Illinois, and even
Cuba. He
died August 24, 1842.