Pls have a look at [[Talk:Harghita/Vote]] before deleting the Hungarian name. Thx
'''George Washington Whistler''' was a prominent American [[railroad]] engineer in the first half of the [[19th century]]. He was born on [[May 19]], [[1800]] in [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]] and graduated from the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point, New York]] in [[1819]]. He got a job with the [[Baltimore and Ohio]] Railroad, which sent him to [[England]] to learn more about railroad technology. He was involved in the construction of several U.S. railroads, including the Baltimore and Susquehanna, Stonington, and the Western ([[Massachusetts]]) railroads. In [[1842]] Whistler was employed by Engineer Melnikov as a Consultant on the building of [[Russia]]'s first major railroad, the [[Moscow]] - [[St. Petersburg]] line. While working on this project, he contracted [[cholera]] and died in St. Petersburg on [[April 7]], [[1849]], two years before the line was completed. He is credited with selecting the five-foot [[rail gauge]] still used in Russia and neighboring countries.
Whistlers first wife, Mary R. Swift, died in [[1827]], after they had had three children, a girl and two boys. He later married [[Anna Matilda McNeill]], with whom he had five sons. [[Whistler's Mother|A portrait of Anna]] by their first son, [[James McNeill Whistler]], is among the most famous paintings in art.
Stone arch railroad bridges built by George Washington Whistler in [[1841]] are still in freight and passenger service on the [[CSX]] mainline in western Massachusetts.
==External links==
*[http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/Whis_Gwa.htm Bigraphical sketch at Center for Whistler Studies]
*[http://home.att.net/~rlgroves/arch_br.htm George W. Whistler's Stone Arch Bridges]
