WILLIAM ERNEST BARRETT

Los Angeles County

Biographies

WILLIAM ERNEST BARRETT

BARRETT, WILLIAM ERNEST, Consulting Gas Engineer, New York, N. Y., Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, February 16, 1870, the son of Albert Read Barrett and Marie Louise (Barnes) Barrett. He married Charlotte Josephine Ricker at Lawrence, Massachusetts, October 13, 1893, and to them there was born a daughter, Gretchen Crommelin Barrett. He is descended of old American stock, his ancestors on both sides of the family having been men of affairs in the days of the Revolution. One of these, John Crommelin, of New York City, was one of the original organizers of Trinity Parish, and his great granduncle, John Barrett, gave his life to the Republic at the Battle of Lexington. Lewis Barnes, his maternal great-grandfather, was a banker at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the owner of a line of ocean ships sailing between New York and France. B. F. Barrett, his paternal grandfather, established the Barrett Roofing Company of Chicago.

Mr. Barrett received his early education in public and private schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and also attended the first public manual training school in the United States, established by Lieutenant Robert Crawford, of the United States Navy. He concluded his studies at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in the class of 1889 with the degree of mechanical Engineer.

Prior to his graduation, Mr. Barrett determined to specialize in gas engineering and, following the receipt of his degree, became Assistant Engineer to James E. Leadley, of the Hanley & Leadley Construction Company, which had the contract for building a water gas plant for the Philadelphia Gas Improvement Company. He continued in this position for about eight months, resigning to become Assistant Superintendent of the Globe Gas Light Company, of Philadelphia, which was later merged with the United Gas Improvement Company of the same city. Subsequently he became Cadet Engineer in the construction department of the corporation and was then promoted to the position of Construction Engineer, which he filled until 1893.

At this time he went to Montgomery, Alabama, as General Manager of the Montgomery Railway & Light Company, remaining there for a year. During this time he brought about the consolidation of the two competing companies, thus bringing the business down to an economical basis.

Returning to Pennsylvania, in 1894, Mr. Barrett took the management of the Lower Merion Gas Company, a subsidiary of the United Gas Improvement Company covering the territory from Philadelphia to Paoli, Pennsylvania. After several years Mr. Barrett acquired all the electric properties in that section, and in May, 1902, merged these companies into the Merion & Radnor Gas & Electric Company, retaining the management of the new concern.

While a resident of Lower Merion Township, Mr. Barrett, who is a Republican in his political affiliations, was elected a member of the first Board of Commissioners of the Township, serving from 1900 to March, 1904. While on the Board he designed and supervised the construction of the entire system of drainage in the place, forty-four miles of sewers, and also was engaged in other civic improvements.

In January, 1904, Mr. Barrett resigned the management of the corporation he had organized and went to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he took charge of the gas department of the Scranton Gas & Water Company, remaining in that capacity until 1906.

Upon leaving Scranton, Mr. Barrett was appointed Chief Consulting Gas Engineer for J. G. White & Company, of New York, the largest engineering firm in the world. He still retains this position and during the six years he has occupied it has designed and constructed several notable plants in various parts of the United States. Among others he built the entire gas works at Moline, Illinois, which supplies gas to the cities of Moline and Rock island. This was one of the most remarkable engineering feats in the history of gas construction, he having completed in seventy-eight days a plant having 3,000,000 feet per day capacity.

In the early part of 1912, Mr. Barrett was commissioned by his company to engineer the construction of a 12-inch natural gas pipe line 115 miles long, extending from the Midway oil fields of California to the city of Los Angeles. In this work he occupied the unique position of managing himself, he being General Manager and Consulting Engineer of the Midway Gas Company, and also Assistant General Manager of the Southern California Gas Company.

The work in which Mr. Barrett is engaged in California is one of the largest natural gas enterprises in the country and an industry of great importance to its home State.

Mr. Barrett, who is generally considered one of the leading experts of his profession, is a member of the American Gas Institute, New York Electric Society, Natural Gas Association of America, American Society of Electrical Engineers-Associate, Illinois Gas Association and the Los Angeles Chamber of Mines and Oil. His clubs are the Montana Club, Helena, Montana; Engineers’ Club of Northeast Pennsylvania and the Los Angeles Athletic Club, of Los Angeles.

Transcribed 10-8-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 145, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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