Harland Bartholomew

Harland Bartholomew
Photograph of Harland Bartholomew
Born	September 14, 1889 Stoneham, Massachusetts
Died	December 2, 1989 Clayton, Missouri
Education	Erasmus High School, Rutgers University
Years active	1911-1962
Home town	Brooklyn

Harland Bartholomew (September 14, 1889 – December 2, 1989) was an American urban planner. Although a civil engineer by training and disposition, Harland's career started just as the automobile production was about to take off, industrial development was booming and urban populations grew. The novel challenges and opportunities brought about by this new form of transport inspired the invention of new community concepts and required the development of new approaches to planning transportation in cities. These challenges called for the skills of an engineer to analyze transportation needs quantitiatively as well as those of a person passionate about urban design and social conditions. Harland was able to deliver these qualities. Starting in 1911 and continuing until 1930 Harland Bartholomew created new methodologies and new designs and concepts which made contributions that remain relevant to urban planning in North America today. This novel approach became known as comprehensive planning. His skills and experience were sought by many city planning commissions. Ultimately cities would develop their own in house technical staff to carry on with planning issues. Harland himself was the first full-time planner employed by an American city, and he remained a planner with St. Louis, Missouri for 37 years. During this period both the city of St. Louis and its surrounding areas were thriving and growing. Due to his groundbreaking work he can be described as the father of American and Canadian city planning in the age of the automobile.

Bartholomew was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts on September 14, 1889 but moved to New York City when he was 15 and attended Erasmus High School in Brooklyn. He completed two years of a Civil Engineering degree at Rutgers, but due to lack of funds, was unable to continue his studies. He received an honorary degree in Civil Engineering from Rutgers University in 1921. In 1912 he landed a position with E.P. Goodrich, a civil engineering firm that happened to be a strong advocate for the efficient planning of cities. His work with Goodrich consisted principally of conducting traffic counts on bridges, a task that Bartholomew found dreary but that prepared him for a life of planning around infrastructure and automobility.