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Archie Alexander, Engineer, Businessman, and Politician born

Archie Alexander

Archie Alexander was born on this date in 1888. He was a Black design and construction engineer.

He was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, to Price and Mary Alexander; his father was a janitor; his mother’s name was Mary. Alexander was born during the Jim Crow era into a family that lived in an area set aside for poor people.   This meant that he would not be expected to have an education. When he was 11 years old, his family moved to a small farm on the outskirts of Des Moines. In 1905, he graduated from Oak Park High School in Des Moines.

Alexander took on poorly paid part-time jobs to study at Highland Park College in Des Moines, and his parents helped as much as possible. In addition, he attended Cummins Art College in Des Moines before entering the University of Iowa in 1908 to study engineering. He was the only black student in the college, and his adviser at the university had bluntly told him that “a Negro could not hope to succeed as an engineer.” After graduating in 1912, he discovered that his race prevented him from being appointed to any engineering posts to which he made applications.

Alexander decided that if he could not find an engineering post, he would join a firm as a laborer and work his way up. He started with the Marsh Engineering Company and, in two years, was in charge of the Marsh Engineering Company's bridge-building program in Iowa and Minnesota. After two years with Marsh, he left to form his own engineering company. Few would willingly give a significant engineering contract to a firm run by an African American if other firms could do the work. Consequently, Alexander's company ended up with jobs for which no other firm competed.

While at the Marsh Engineering Company, Alexander had become friendly with another engineer, George F Higbee. Alexander took Higbee on as a partner in 1917, and the partnership only ended in 1925 when Higbee was tragically killed in a construction accident. For four years, Alexander ran the company independently, gaining a reputation as a talented construction engineer building fine bridges, viaducts, and tunnels. Alexander also participated in Iowa's political life, serving as the assistant chairman of the Iowa Republican State Committee in 1932 and again in 1940.

In 1954, he was appointed as governor of the Virgin Islands. His period as governor lasted only 16 months before he was forced to resign.

Archie Alexander died on January 4, 1958, in Des Moines. In 1975, upon the death of Alexander's wife, the University of Iowa, Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and Howard University each received a substantial sum for engineering scholarships from a trust fund set up by Alexander in his will.

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To become a construction worker