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Male, born 1888-10-29, died 1972-01-05
Associated with the firm network
Howard Needles Tammen and Bergendoff (HNTB)
Résumé
Partner, Harrington, Howard and Ash, Kansas City, MO, 1914-1941. Needles opened this firm's New York City office in 1922.
Civil Engineer, Kansas City Terminal Railway Company, Kansas City, MO, c. 1918. (The 1940 US Census listed him as a mechanical engineer.)
Military service, 12/02/1942 and 11/12/1945. (See Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed 08/31/2021.)
Partner, Howard Needles Tammen and Bergendorf, Architects, Kansas City, MO., 1941-1993; Needles opened Harrington, Howard & Ash (HNTB's preceding firm name) New York office in the 1920s.
College
B.S., Civil Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, 1914. He was his senior class president in the 1913-1914 academic year and on the student council in his second and third years. He joined several student activities, including the yearbook and was a student assistant in surveying during his second, third and fourth years. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. The yearbook said of him in 1914: “Never radical but always firm and fair in his beliefs, his impartiality and fairness in everything have made him one of the best liked men in school.” (See Ancestry.com, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rollamo Yearbook, 1913-1914, p. 48.)
College Awards
Member, Tau Beta Pi Honorary Engineering Fraterinity, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, c. 1914.
Relocation
Needles was born in Brookfield, MO, in 1888. His family resided at 3227 Garner Avenue in Kansas City, MO, by 1900. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Kansas City Ward 7, Jackson, Missouri; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0065; FHL microfilm: 1240862, accessed 09/01/2021.)
On 06/05/1917, he and his wife resided at 2938 The Paseo in Kansas City, MO. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Registration State: Missouri; Registration County: Jackson Source Information: U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 09/31/2021.)
Needles worked as a civil engineer in Jacksonville, FL, during 1920-1921, on bridge construction there. The extensive Jacksonville-St. Johns River Bridge (aka the St. John W. Acosta Bridge) opened on 07/01/1921 (demolished in 1991) and J.L. Harrington of Kansas City was involved in its design. The 1920 US Census indicated that Enoch Needles rented a room from homeowner Muriel Guilfoyle (born c. 1886 in FL) at 215 East Duval Street in Jacksonville. (See Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Jacksonville Ward 4, Duval, Florida; Roll: T625_217; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 49, accessed 09/03/2021.)
He moved his family to the New York, NY, area in 1922, when he opened a branch office of his engineering firm. The 1930 US Census located the Needles Family living at 142 Hillside Road in Elizabeth, NJ. They rented their house in Elizabeth at a monthly rent of $125, a substantial sum for the time, and maintained a household servant, Mary M. Haggerty (born c. 1910 in Scotland). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0180; FHL microfilm: 2341121, accessed 09/01/2021 and Elizabeth, New Jersey, City Directory, 1930, p. 548.) The Elizabeth, New Jersey, City Directory, 1933, (p. 470), indicated that the Needles Family lived at 40 Hillside Road, and continued at this location in 1935.
About 1936 or 1937, he and his wife resettled their family in Summit, NJ, where they resided for many years. They owned a substantial, $20,000 residence at 5 Sunset Drive in Summit by 1940. They had no household servants at the time. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: Summit, Union, New Jersey; Roll: m-t0627-02389; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 20-156, accessed 09/01/2021.)
He served in the military during World War II between 12/02/1942 and 11/12/1945. (See Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed 08/31/2021.)
He died in Morristown, NJ, at the age of 83. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year Range: 1972; Surname Range: H-O; Title: New Jersey, Death Indexes, 1904-2000, accessed 09/01/2021.)
Parents
His father Simgesmer Needles (born 12/01/1842 in Franklin County, OH-d. 07/30/1921 in Kansas City, MO) worked as a machinist in 1900. He married Enoch's mother Elma Florence Bray (born 08/13/1853 in Millersburg, OH-d 12/12/1928 in Chicago, IL), c. 1873.
They had nine children, all of whom had survived by 1900, who included: Alma E. Needles (born c. 12/1874 in MO), Genevieve Needles (born c. 01/1877 in MO), Sadie M. Needles (born 07/1881 in MO), Lucy B. Needles (born c. 11/1883 in MO), Floridel Needles (born c. 11/1885 in MO), Enoch Needles, and Margaret Needles (born c. 07/1891 in MO).
Spouse
He wed Ethel Sally Schuman (born 05/10/1893 in Rolla, MO-d. 04/26/1990 in Summit, NJ) on 09/12/1916 in Rolla, MO. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Missouri State Archives; Jefferson City, MO, USA; Missouri Marriage Records [Microfilm], accessed 09/01/2021.)
The US Census of 1940 indicated that she had completed one year of college.
Children
Ethel and Enoch had six children, five daughters and a son. They included: Elma A. Needles (born c. 1918 in MO), Margaret Needles (born c. 1920 in MO), Mary F. Needles McJunkin (born 08/30/1921 in FL), Thomas Enoch Needles (born 05/18/1924 in NJ-d. 04/20/2000), Carolyn Needles Homer (born 12/21/1927 in NJ-d. 08/31/2016) and Sally Needles (born c. 1934 in NJ).
Mary's first husband died in 1975, and she remarried Dr. David Benoni Gray (born 02/13/1917 in WV) on 02/22/1980 in Washington County, VA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia, Marriages, 1936-2014; Roll: 101141820, accessed 09/01/2021.)
Biographical Notes
His World War I draft registration card described him as Caucasian and tall with a medium build. He had gray eyes and brown hair. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Registration State: Missouri; Registration County: Jackson Source Information: U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 09/31/2021.)
SSN: 133301260.
PCAD id: 3425
| Name | Date | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, CA | 1921-1923 | Los Angeles | CA |
| Meydenbauer Convention Center, Bellevue, WA | 1989-1993 | Bellevue | WA |
| State of Washington, Convention and Trade Center (WSCTC), Downtown, Seattle, WA | 1985-1988 | Seattle | WA |
| State of Washington, Department of Transportation, State Route 99 (SR 99) Tunnel, Waterfront, Seattle, WA | 2013-2019 | Seattle | WA |
