David B. Steinman - Early Life

Early Life

Steinman was the child of immigrant workers. Little is known of his family and early childhood other than that he had 6 siblings. There is some controversy about where and when he was born. Some sources have him born in Khomsk, Brest, Belarus in 1886, and emigrating to the United States with his family in 1890. However other sources, including Ratigan, and Steinman himself have him born in New York in 1887.

Steinman grew up in New York City, New York, and was raised in the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Williamsburg Bridge was constructed as he grew up. The late Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries were a time of significant bridge construction in the area, and he later said this is where he got his first interest in bridges.

Because his family had little money, he worked to put himself through both the City College of New York, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1906 and then Columbia University, where he completed three additional degrees culminating in a PhD in Civil Engineering. His PhD thesis was on a steel truss arch design for the Henry Hudson Bridge. While he was attending Columbia he did fellowships as well as taught nighttime classes at the City College and Stuyvesant Evening High School. He accepted a teaching position at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho (1910–1914) but longed to return to New York.