In March of 1983, Dr. Sara Ruth Watson, a former Professor of English and Engineering at Fenn College, donated to Cleveland State University Libraries over one hundred and seventy-five rare books, some dating from the eighteenth century, and fifteen albums of photographs on historic bridges. The collection is considered one of the best of its kind in the country.

The collection was begun by Dr. Watson's father, Wilbur J. Watson, a distinguished civil engineer and bridge designer who from his student days at Western Reserve University collected books on bridges and continued this interest during a long professional career. He founded the Watson Engineering Company in Cleveland, now the AC Engineering Company on Prospect near Thirtieth Street, and authored Bridge Architecture (1927), A Decade of Bridges: 1926-1937 (1937), and with his daughter, Bridges in History and Legend (1937).

Dr. Sara Ruth Watson initiated, and from 1940 to 1970, taught a pioneer course in the History of Civil Engineering. She continued and expanded her father's collection. In October 1986, after the death of her sister, Dr. Watson established the Emily M. Watson Endowment Fund for the maintenance and acquisition of books and periodicals to the Watson Bridge Book Collection, which have as their primary focus the history of civil engineering with a special emphasis on bridges. Dr. Sara Ruth Watson left a bequest in 1996 to further support the Watson Bridge Book Collection.

Digital Texts On-line about Bridges

Bridges of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County (1918)

Bridges of Metropolitan Cleveland (1981)

History of the Cleveland Viaduct. (1878)

Last updated September 13, 2001