Barton S. Alexander - Pre-Civil War

Pre-Civil War

Alexander was born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, He entered West Point in the fall of 1838. Alexander was a diligent student, and corrected an entering weakness in mathematics to graduate seventh of 56 cadets in the Class of 1842. Between 1843 and 1848, he worked on several fortification projects along the East Coast of the United States, including Forts Pulaski, Jackson, and the defenses of New York City. In 1848, he participated in the Mexican-American War as a second lieutenant of engineers, helping build defenses to protect American supply lines as Winfield Scott's army advanced on Mexico City. After the conclusion of the war, now-First Lieutenant Alexander returned to West Point for a four-year assignment as Treasurer and Superintending Engineer for the Cadets' Barracks and Mess Hall. In 1852, Alexander was assigned to Washington, D.C., where he assisted in the design and construction of several government buildings.

The first of these was the Scott Building of the U.S. Soldiers' Home, now known as the Armed Forces Retirement Home. The building was named for General Winfield Scott, who donated $100,000 for the establishment of the Soldiers' Home in 1851. It served as the central focus of the complex, and still stands today. Constructed in the Romanesque Revival style, the Scott Building features a round-arched motif utilizing white Vermont marble.

At the same time as his work on the Scott Building, Alexander was asked to take up the challenge of completing the Smithsonian Institution Building, the progress of which had bogged down under architect James Renwick, Jr. In August 1853, Alexander accepted, and by 1855, the Smithsonian Building was complete. During construction, Alexander slightly altered Renwick's original design by placing the Smithsonian's main lecture hall on the second floor. The change allowed for superior acoustics and a wider space than could be found on the first floor. To support the large lecture hall and the central core of the building, Alexander arranged for the installation of fireproof masonry-encased iron structural columns. These would prove their value on January 24, 1865, when a fire broke out on the roof above the lecture hall. The resulting blaze destroyed the hall and damaged much of the rest of the structure. Thanks to the fireproof columns, however, the Smithsonian building did not collapse.