JOSEPH MILLER WILSON, ili 
Joseph M. Wilson possessed by heredity those inestimable privi- 
leges and advantages which come from things of good repute in 
‘professional life and practice. He was keenly sensitive in uphold- 
ing the high standard and family traditions thus bequeathed unto 
him, and he did so with a constancy and fidelity unto himself 
quite above the control of policies and politics, either secular or 
religious, which he did not approve. 
Born at Phoenixville, Pa. (June 20, 1838); passed a portion of 
his youth upon his father’s farm, Chester county, Pa.; attended 
private schools, and entered the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 
Troy, N. Y. (September, 1854). After graduation, with degree of 
C. E. (1858), took a special course of two years in Analytical 
Chemistry with Prof. F. A. Genth, at Philadelphia, and in March, 
1860, entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company 
as Assistant Engineer. 
His services with that company covered the important period 
when the introduction of cast and wrought iron, and later on steel, 
in lieu of the previous wood-construction for bridges and buildings, 
involved much original research and experiments more or less novel 
to the profession. Mr. Wilson was among the early investigators 
to apply such -in actual practice, and became a valued source of 
information and experience in each of the three departments of 
this development, viz., mathematical investigation involving the 
theory of strains, the development of designs, and work executed. 
His technical papers, published then and later on, form part of the 
history and literature of the profession in the United States. He 
held various positions in the service of the company in line of pro- 
motion, and as Engineer of Bridges and Buildings embraced oppor- 
tunities involving increased responsibility by the embodiment of 
new ideas in construction. 
He continued in that service until 1886, during which time he 
constructed, among many works, the original Broad Street Station, 
Philadelphia, which for purity indesign was eminently character- 
istic of him. 
As early as 1873, when the National Congress and citizens at 
large became interested in the approaching international celebration 
of the first centennial of the nation, Mr. Wilson at once took an 
active part, both as citizen and professionally....Later on, after -the 
adoption of the design for the Main Building, which was finally 
erected in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, he became associated with 
