A Century of Service: The Centennial Story of the St. Paul District, Army Corps of Engineers

Abstract

Abstract : This centennial story of the St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been prepared with two specific goals - a brief summation of the St. Paul District's varied activities during the past 100 years, and the focusing of attention on the Corps' program in developing our water resources. General G. K. Warren coming into the upper midwestern United States 100 years ago, brought with him a proud heritage of an organization established 9 decades before by General George Washington. Washington, just prior to the Battle of Bunker Hill, on 16 June 1775 to be exact, appointed Richard Gridley as Chief Engineer of the Colonial Army. This is recognized as the inception of the present Army Corps of Engineers, an organization which has established an enviable professional reputation and has continued to this day as the principal engineering agency for the federal development of our nation's water resources. This story tells how the St. Paul District has contributed to the Corps' reputation. This story is necessarily brief. On the other hand, the varied activities of the St. Paul District, discussed in each of the following sections, are worthy of a far more expanded and detailed description than presented here. A volume of several hundred pages would be required to do justice to these activities. Appendix 1 contains a selected bibliography for those interested in a wider view of life in the area encompassed by the St. Paul District during the past century.