The Niles Republican published a poetic obituary following Col. James Lewis Glen's death in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 1876.
Drawing on William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene V, the author of the piece wrote: "What has been so often said of others may be truly said of him, 'His life was gentle and elements so mixed in him, that Nature might stand up and say to all the world: This was a Man!' "
This was the man whose engineering accomplishments include the original Niles water-power and gas works buildings, the substructure of the bridge, Trinity Episcopal Church and Silverbrook Cemetery where he now rests.
A native of Holmesburg, Penn., where he was born May 29, 1814, his youth and early manhood were spent in Philadelphia where it was said he acquired "the social tastes and polite habits then characteristic of that city."
Click here for the full article on the Niles Daily Star website
Published June 20th, 2009