Construction engineer Gridley Bryant built the first commercial railroad in the United States and invented most of the basic technologies used in its operations. Bryant died 155 years ago today, (on June 13, 1867), in Scituate, Massachusetts, the town in which he had been born in 1789.
Early construction career
Bryant demonstrated strong engineering and construction abilities early in life. As an adult, he recalled, “I was generally at the head of the young...