Octave Chanute

Hannibal Bridge, Union/Kansas City Stockyards, Chicago Stockyards, engineering, Missouri River, bridging the unbridgeable, Wright Brothers

 

 

 

Octave Chanute, a Paris-born engineer lovingly referred to as the “roly-poly Frenchman,” helped develop Kansas City into the Crossroads of the Country. He designed the Unnion Stockyards, which grew into the second largest cattle exchange in the United States (behind Chicago, whose stockyards were courtesy of Chanute, as well).  He also designed the first railroad bridge to cross the Missouri River, previously claimed unbridgeable — the Hannibal Bridge. In 1894 he wrote Progress in Flying Machines, which became a key guidebook for the Wright brothers, who considered Chanute a mentor. He was a pioneer in his field and a gift to Kansas City.