Skip to main content

Bowker, E. F. (Edwin Freeman), 1840-1924

 Person

Biography

Edwin Freeman Bowker (1840-1924) was an American civil engineer and surveyor. He was born on April 17, 1840 to Freeman Bowker and Sarah (Batchelder) Bowker in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from English High School in Boston, MA in 1856 and was employed at Whitwell and Henck in Boston, MA, where he did the surveying for Boston’s first horsecar railroad. Bowker was one of the civil engineers engaged to survey the battlefield at Antietam in the early 1860s, but left the project due to hay fever. After returning to Massachusetts, he worked at the Cambridge Street Department in Cambridge, MA until 1872. In 1873, he established his own firm, active in Cambridge, Brighton, Brookline, Newton, Somerville, and Boston, MA. He also planned St. Paul's Cemetery in East Arlington, MA. His business was acquired by Dana F. Perkins & Sons, Inc. in 1905.

He married Jane H. Wellington in 1872. Edwin Freeman Bowker died on June 11, 1924 in Cambridge, MA.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Dana F. Perkins, Inc. surveying records

 Collection
Call Number: MS.LMEC.0006
Scope and Contents The Dana F. Perkins, Inc. surveying records consists of surveys, notebooks, and ancillary surveying documents from firms and individual surveyors acquired by the company, as well as some surveys created by Dana F. Perkins, Inc. The majority of items were created by W.A. Mason & Son, with the next largest group of items created by Fuller & Whitney (later William H. Whitney). Other surveyors with a significant number of materials are Charles D. Elliot, Dana E. Perkins, and Dana F....
Dates: 1817 - 1965
Found in: Boston Public Library Archives & Special Collections / Dana F. Perkins, Inc. surveying records