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Ambrose Edwin Lehman is born
Ambrose Edwin Lehman was born on May 21, 1851 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He was born as the seventh of ten children to Benjamin Bringhurst Lehman and Sussana Mustin in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He is of German heritage and his family immigrated from Dresden in 1731. Image 1. -
Gadsden Purchase Finalized
In 1884, three years after Ambrose Lehman's birth, the American Government completed its deal with the Mexican Government, where America paid Mexico 10 million dollars for the acquisition of land that would become part of Arizona and New Mexico. The Gadsden Purchase contributed to the westward expansion of Americans, and expanded the territory America had gained in the Mexican-American War. It allowed for the unsuccessful construction of a transcontinental railroad through the South. Image 2. -
The Pennsylvania Railroad expands to Chicago
In 1856 the Pennsylvania Railroad, based in Philadelphia, expanded to the city of Chicago by buying the Fort Wayne, Chicago, and Pittsburg lines. The company received its first charter in 1846, to build a line from Harrisburg to Pittsburg. Ambrose Lehman's father and grandfather would have been knowledgeable of the railroads in Pennsylvania, because they were both engineers that specialized in transportation. Image 3. -
American Civil War Begins
During the civil war, from 1861-1865, the Union experienced a period of economic growth. The war provided a demand for resources and equipment, which allowed industry and factories to thrive. Railroads also thrived off of the increased commerce. In the years after the civil war, a standard gauge for railroad rails gradually became widespread. Ambrose Lehman would have been informed of railroad innovations because of his occupation as a railroad engineer. Image 4. -
Enrollment Act of 1863 Passed
In 1863 the Union Government passed the Enrollment Act. It established a set number of required troops from each congressional district. However, those drafted to the Union cause could pay a fee of 300 dollars or hire a substitute to avoid the draft. It is likely that Ambrose Lehman's family took advantage of that exemption, because the Lehmans were an established, wealthy colonial family, and there were no records found concerning their service in the Civil War. Image 5. -
The Pennsylvania Railroad expands, becoming a 10,000 mile system
After the civil war, the Pennsylvania Railroad, based in Philadelphia, made several expansions. The company expanded westward to include lines reaching St. Louis and Cincinnati, Ohio. It also expanded to Washington, D.C., to New York City, and to Norfolk, Virginia. All in all the web of railroads owned by the company grew to include 10,000 miles. Though Ambrose Lehman and his family did not work on this railroad, Lehman, his father, and his grandfather would have been informed. Image 6. -
The Union Canal and the end of the Lehman Family's involvement
Ambrose Lehman’s grandfather, William Lehman, moved to Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1824 to become the first superintendent of the Lebanon Union Canal. His son Benjamin Bringhurst aided William Lehman in the oversight of the Canal, and his other son, Samuel Bringhurst Lehman, became a collector of tolls on the canal. The Lehman family was involved with the management of the Union Canal until 1867. The canal connected the commercial centers of Reading, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia. Image 8. -
First steel rails implemented in Pennsylvania
In 1867 the first steel rails in the United States were manufactured by the Cambria Iron Works in Pennsylvania, with steel manufactured by the Pennsylvania Steel Company. The invention of steel railroads would have likely been discussed by Ambrose Lehman and his father, an engineer named Benjamin Bringhurst Lehman. Image 7. -
The Union Pacific Railroad is completed
Commissioned by Congress in 1862, the Union Pacific Railroad became the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. By connecting the North and the West, the railroad created new commercial opportunities in both regions. The effect is similar to Ambrose Lehman's work with the Osage Valley and Southern Kansas railroad; extending railroads so that they brought new opportunities to new regions. Image 9. -
Westinghouse Air Brake Company Founded
The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was founded in 1869 to manufacture the air brakes that George Westinghouse had invented. As a railroad engineer, Ambrose Lehman would likely have learned about and benefited from the invention of the air brakes. Image 10. -
Ambrose's first job as an assistant and division engineer on the Osage Valley and Southern Kansas Railroad
Ambrose Edwin Lehman's first job was for the Osage Valley Railroad as an assistant and division engineer on the Osage Valley and Southern Kansas Railroad. In 1869 the Osage Valley railroad planned to connect Jefferson City and Fort Scott. He joined the Osage Valley Railroad in 1870, to work as a railroad surveyor as it expanded into Southern Kansas. In this way, Ambrose Lehman helped facilitate the development of Kansas and Fort Scott as commercial centers. He left his in 1873. Image 11. -
Briefly lived in the first ward of Dayton Ohio with his father’s family in 1870 working as a bookkeeper
After marrying Eliza Gideon on November 10, 1868 Benjamin Bringhurst Lehman moved with his bride and his children to Dayton, Ohio. Ambrose Edwin Lehman worked as a bookkeeper and his father worked as a civil Engineer. Ambrose moved out when he was 19. Image 12. -
The Automated Block System introduced
The Automated Block System was introduced to America in 1872. It was invented by William Robinson. It used electricity to stop a train, and made train travel safer as the century concluded. Ambrose Lehman would have been informed of new breakthroughs in railroad engineering, as he was a railroad engineer himself. Image 13. -
Ambrose worked for the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania
In 1874 Ambrose Lehman became involved in the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania in the Adams, Franklin, Cumberland and York Counties as a Topographical Assistant. Lehman focused on the South Mountains of Pennsylvania in his work. In the maps he created with his team of engineers, he marked the rock types, angles of dip, locations of towns, roads, railways, and a national cemetery. He continued his work for the survey until 1886. Image 14. -
Centennial Exhibition
In 1876 Philadelphia hosted the Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine in Fairmount Park. The Centennial Exhibition drew engineers from across the globe to discuss findings and breakthroughs. It led Philadelphian engineers, including Ambrose Lehman, to found the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia in 1878. Image 15. -
Ambrose was one of the founding members of the engineers’ club of philadelphia
Ambrose was one of the founding members of the engineers’ club of philadelphia. The club began in 1877 and Ambrose joined that same year. Ambrose also supported the club by submitting a Topographical Map of the South Mountains that he created while serving the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. Image 16. -
Resided at 1905 Spruce Street
Ambrose Lehman likely moved with his wife to 1905 Spruce Street after they were married in 1880, as earliest available census documents give that property to be his residence at that time. They moved out in 1887. Image 17. -
Married Sallie Virginia Maull
On February 5, 1880, Ambrose Edwin Lehman married Saillie Virginia Maull. Ambrose Lehman was twenty eight years old, Sallie Virginia Maull was 26. Maull was a native Philadelphian. They were married by a priest named William N. MckVickar. Image 18. -
Ambrose worked as assistant chief engineer to chief engineer on the interoceanic railroad of Mexico
Ambrose Edwin Lehman worked as assistant chief engineer to chief engineer on the interoceanic railroad of Mexico in 1881. In 1881 this interoceanic route through Jalapa was surveyed by Arthur Wellington. In 1882, Ambrose Lehman joined him as assistant chief engineer. On March fourth, 1882, the Senate Committee on Commerce authorized the Eads Bill, which enabled the construction of the Interoceanic Ship Railroad. The line was opened in 1891. Image 19. -
Anna Louise Lehman is born
On July third, 1881, Ambrose Lehman’s first daughter Anna Louise Lehman was born. She was christened in 1882 at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, at 1904 Walnut Street. This was the same church where her parents had married a year earlier, in 1881. Image 20. -
Chief Engineer of location and construction at the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad
In 1882 Ambrose Lehman became the chief engineer of location and construction at the Gettysburg and Harrisburg railroad. He surveyed a route from Hunter’s Run to Gettysburg, and later the route from Gettysburg to Round Top in 1882. In October 1884, He commenced an Idaville-to-York Springs survey for an eastward branch of the Gettysburg and Harrisburg railway. In April 1889, He began a survey from Gettysburg to Washington, starting at the Round Top Branch. He left the railroad in 1891. Image 21. -
Eleanor Maull Lehman and James Edward Lehman are born
Ambrose Edwin Lehman's daughter Eleanor Maull Lehman was born, 14th August 1882. She was the second daughter of Ambrose and Sallie Lehman. She was born as a twin to James Edward Lehman. Image 22. -
Became a Matriculant of Jefferson Medical College
When Ambrose Edwin Lehman was 32 years old he became a matriculant of Jefferson Medical College. Though his family’s prosperity provided him with private tutors and financial support, his father and grandfather also gave him the inspiration to pursue civil engineering. Image 23. -
Elected into American Philosophical Society
In 1883 Ambrose Edwin Lehman was elected into the American Philosophical Society. He worked as a cartographer, and contributed some of his topographical maps to the society’s archives, such as the topographical maps he created during his survey of the South Mountains for the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. Image 24. -
Ambrose Lehman became chief engineer of the Brooklyn, Bath, and Coney Island Railway Line
Ambrose Lehman became chief engineer of the Brooklyn, Bath, and Coney Island Railway Line. the railroad was expanded once again from 5th Avenue and 38th Street to Second Avenue and 39th Street in order to serve as a ferry connection. That same year the line was reorganized into the Brooklyn, Bath, and West End Railroad. Ambrose worked there from 1886 to 1893. Image 26. -
Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois
In the Supreme Court case Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois, the Supreme Court ruled that individual states had no power to regulate interstate commerce. Although Ambrose Lehman was not directly involved in the issues of high rebates and exploitation of workers, he would have been informed about the news regarding his industry: railroads. Image 25. -
Ambrose Lehman set up a private office as a consulting engineer
In 1887 Ambrose Edwin Lehman set up a private office as a consulting engineer at 711 Walnut street as a consulting engineer. He would work there until he died. Image 28. -
The Interstate Commerce Act is passed
The Interstate Commerce Act was passed by Congress in 1887 to regulate interstate commerce. It prohibited rebates and pools, and required that railroad publish their rates. It also set up the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the Interstate Commerce Act. Image 27. -
Sallie Virginia Lehman and Elinor Maull Lehman die
Sallie Virginia Lehman and Elinor Maull Lehman both died the same night, on April 12, 1888 of diphtheria. Diphtheria creates a thick covering in the back of the throat. It leads to difficulty breathing, heart failure, paralysis, and death. Image 29. -
Ambrose Lehman moved to 208 South Forty-third Street
In 1888, Ambrose Lehman settled down at 208 South Forty-third Street following the death of his wife and daughter. Image 30. -
Ambrose Lehman worked as a consulting engineer for the North Carolina Great Falls Water Company
In 1891 Ambrose Edwin Lehman traveled to North Carolina to advise the Great Falls Water Power Company. The company sought to use the water along the banks of the Roanoke river to power manufacturing. They also planned to make profitable by the mills and other manufacturing centers the company had put in place. The manufacturing centers at Roanoke River were called the third best in the entire country, under Ambrose Lehman’s guidance as chief engineer in 1893. Image 31. -
Philadelphia grows past 1 million inhabitants
Following a general trend after the United States Civil War, where urban centers grew, Philadelphia became one of three cities to pass 1 million inhabitants by 1890. This concentration of many people in one area led to the spread of bacterial infections like diphtheria, which was the cause of death for Ambrose Lehman's wife and daughter. It is likely that he moved to West Philadelphia in order to escape the concentration of people in Center City. Image 32. -
Ambrose Edwin Lehman marries Emilie Yvonne Koehler
While on a business trip in France, Ambrose Lehman met Emilie Yvonne Koehler. The two were married on January 18, 1892, in Montbelier, France. They returned to America together and continued to live at 208 South 43rd Street, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Image 33. -
Eric Maurice Lehman is born
On March 18, 1893, Eric Maurice Lehman was born to Ambrose Lehman and Emilie Lehman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the fourth child of Ambrose Lehman. Image 34. -
Ambrose Lehman becomes a founding member of the Lebanon County Historical Society
The Lebanon County Historical Society was founded on January 14, 1898. Ambrose Lehman joined the society at some point in that year, contributing to its founding. The society was formed to preserve the history of the Lebanon Valley, such as the creation of the Union Canal, which Ambrose Lehman's family had been a part of. The society was first located at the Lebanon County Courthouse. Image 35. -
James Edward Lehman is accepted to Central High School
In 1899 James Edward Lehman was accepted into Central High School. He went on to pursue a career as a mining engineer. Image 36. -
Ambrose Edwin Lehman moves his offices to 506 Walnut Street
By 1904, Ambrose Edwin Lehman had moved his offices as a consulting engineer to 506 Walnut Street, where his occupation was listed as a mining engineer in the 1904 business directory of Philadelphia. Image 37. -
Ambrose Lehman's health deteriorates
In 1909, Ambrose Lehman fell ill while surveying a mine. He suffered from attacks where he would fall into a state of nervous prostration. To recover he spent time at the Lebanon Sanatorium and a Wernersville health resort. Image 38. -
Ambrose Lehman dies
Ambrose Lehman died in his home at 208 South 43rd street. He suffered from attacks which would lead to nervous prostration, which were given to be the cause of death. Lehman was buried in the Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Image 39. -
America enters World War I
On April 6, 1917, America entered World War I. This took place two days after the death of Ambrose Edwin Lehman. Though Ambrose Lehman was not involved in the war, his wife and son were. Eric Maurice Lehman served in the war, and his wife Emilie traveled to France and worked at the Woman's Hospital in Luzancy, France. She was decorated by the French Government for her work there. Image 40.
