Gillham, Robert
civil engineer, was born Sept. 25, 1854, in New York city.
He is vice-president of the Kansas City Elevated Railway company, and designed and built the road as chief engineer. He organized the Kansas City Cable Railway company, and as chief engineer constructed the railway, including the steep incline at the Union depot, Kansas City; also the Eighth Street Tunnel and Elevated railway, near the Union depot, which are monuments to his engineering skill and science. Among other noted engineering works executed by him are the Omaha Cable Railway system, the Denver City Cable Railway system, the Montague Cable railway of Brooklyn, N. Y.; the Cleveland City Cable railway, Cleveland, Ohio. He is a recognized authority on the subject of compressed air, and visited Europe in the interests of a wealthy syndicate and made extensive experiments and tests of the various applications in the use of compressed air abroad. He has made successful demonstrations of the feasibility of operating street cars by the use of compressed air. He was elected president of the Engineers' club of Kansas City, and is a member of various other engineering and scientific societies. He is president of the Armourdale Foundry company, Kansas City, and one of the park commissioners of Kansas City, Mo.