Albert Baldwin Wood

Baldwin Wood graduated in electrical engineering from Tulane in 1899. He won the Glendy Burke award in mathematics. Baldwin took a position with the Red River Steam Lines to maintain their electrical equipment. He went to work for the Safety Electric Company then commenced working for the Drainage Commission of New Orleans as assistant manager under Alfred Raymond (1864-1920). In 1907, Baldwin was promoted to mechanical engineer for the Sewage and Water Board.

After the demise of Alfred Raymond in January 1920, Baldwin Wood headed the drainage operations for the City of New Orleans. In 1914, he had designed and a new pumping system with 12-foot screw pumps that had the ability to efficiently lift large volumes of water against a load head. The large pumps were constructed at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and transported to the Crescent City via the Illinois Central Railroad.

In late April 1915, Mayor Behrman, New Orleans city officials and engineers and officials of the Sewage and Water Board, witnessed the effectiveness of the Baldwin Wood's designed pump at Pump Station No. 2 on Broad Street and Melpomene. The giant pump moved water down the Metairie relief canal at the rate of 13,500,000 gallons per hour.

Baldwin Wood became an engineering consultant while maintaining his working relationship with the Sewer and Water Board at New Orleans. His pumps were vended in foreign countries as well as Utah, California, Florida and Louisiana. In Holland, Wood advised the Dutch in draining the Zuider Zee, formerly a large inlet connected to the North Sea. Today more than 400,000 denizens inhabit this area now called the province of Flevoland. At Chicago, he reconfigured the Chicago drainage system and added additional pumping capacity. During his lifetime, Mr. Wood developed 38 patents of which 6-8 were very successful.

In January 1939, Baldwin Wood became Superintendent of the Sewer and Water Board. He continued in this capacity until his demise. Tulane awarded Baldwin a Doctorate in Engineering in 1939. During WWII, he became a director of the Civil Defense Board.

Baldwin Wood passed on May 10, 1956 while sailing his beloved sloop, Nydia, in the Biloxi Channel just south of his home on East Beach. Louis Gorenflo, operator of a pleasure craft, rescued the Nydia and towed it to its anchorage. Baldwin's corporal remains were interred at the Metairie Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Nola Smith Wood, and brother, Ralph B. Wood.

Baldwin Wood had married Nola Bradford Smith (1889-1974), the daughter of Henry Hyams Smith (1854-1902) and Lennoe Lee Schermerhorn (1862-1955) at New Orleans in the Christ Church chapel on April 26, 1908. Mr. Smith was the secretary of the Board of Trade at New Orleans. After his demise, Lennoe S. Smith married Socrates Drew (1853-1920+), a Wisconsin native, in Orleans Parish, Louisiana in March 1914. They relocated to Highmore, South Dakota and were living there in 1920.(The Daily Picayune, April 29, 1908, p. 18)

Nola Bradford Smith was the eldest of her four siblings: Lennoe Smith (1889-1915); Egmont Schermerhorn Smith (1891-1948) m. Dorcas Varney Williams (1893-1952); Roma H. Smith (b. 1893) m. Rae Stannard; and Nealtje Smith (1896-1988) m. John Davies Ogden (b. 1890)

Nola and Baldwin Wood are known to have had only one child, Albert Baldwin Wood (1913-1913) Jr. who was born at New Orleans on November 3, 1913. He died as an infant at New Orleans in December 6, 1913.

Albert Baldwin Wood was an inventor and engineer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1899.

Wood was hired by the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans in 1899 to try to improve the flood-prone city's drainage, Wood invented "flapgates" and other hydraulic devices, most notably efficient low maintenance high volume pumps, including the Wood Screw Pump (1913) and the Wood Trash Pump (1915). Wood spearheaded the reclamation from swamp and the efforts to develop much of the land now occupied by the city of New Orleans.

While he spent most of his career in New Orleans, Wood also consulted and designed the drainage, pumping, and sewage systems for other locations including Chicago, Milwaukee, Baltimore, San Francisco, as well as projects in Canada, Egypt, China, and India. His work was especially helpful in the Zuiderzee Works, which reclaimed large areas of land from the Zuider Zee in the Netherlands.

Some of Wood's pumps have been in almost continuous use in New Orleans for over 80 years without need of repairs, and new ones continue to be built from his designs.

When Wood died, he left a bequest to Tulane University on the condition that it preserve and display his sailing boat, the Nydia, for 99 years. Until 2003, the boat was housed in a specially constructed glass-fronted display area located between the University Center and Fogelman Arena. It was moved to make room for the renovation and expansion of the University Center. Because Tulane did not fully adhere to the terms of the will, Wood's heirs have recovered possession of the boat through legal means. The Nydia is on display at the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi, MS, not far from where the boat was originally constructed at the Johnson Shipyard.