William A. Welch

Who was William A. Welch?

Major William Addams Welch was an American engineer and environmentalist who would have a major impact on the state and national park systems of the United States. Born in Cynthiana, Kentucky, he obtained a civil engineering degree from Colorado College in 1882 and a masters degree from the University of Virginia in 1886.

In the 1890s, working for the U.S. government in Alaska, he assembled the first iron steamship to be built in that territory. He also designed railroads in southwest Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, and worked on the legendary 228-mile Madeira-Mamore Railway in Bolivia. In 1907, yellow fever forced him to return to the U.S. where he worked for John C. and Frederick Law Olmsted.

In 1912, he was hired as assistant engineer by George W. Perkins, chairman of the newly formed Palisades Interstate Park Commission, and in 1914, he was made chief engineer and general manager. Under his leadership, Bear Mountain State Park and Harriman State Park grew from an initial 10,000 acres to 43,000 acres. By 1919, it was estimated that a million people a year were coming to the park. In the early 1920s, Welch's engineering work gained nationwide attention when he built Storm King Highway into the sheer cliffs above the Hudson River north of Bear Mountain.