Thomas E. Brown

To the engineering capacity of Thomas Ellis Brown our city of skyscrapers largely owes the development of the modern high-speed elevator consistently with safety. The original elevator in the Eiffel Tower was of his design; so, to a very large extent, were the elevators in the Woolworth Building, the plan for which he perfected after other experts had virtually failed in the attempt. His work as chief consulting engineer of the Otis company gave him a hand in solving what may nowadays be called the transit problem of our twenty or thirty story buildings; he also equipped the Catskill Mountain Incline, the Glasgow Harbor Tunnels, the Elbe tunnel at Hamburg, and the “lifts” of the deep London Underground Tubes.

Brown had a very unusual mental make-up. With his strong, retentive memory and exceptional power of concentration, he never studied a subject but that he mastered it, and that knowledge was ever after at his immediate disposal. His visibly thorough grasp on his profession, coupled with the charm of his personality, made him an ideal executive. He had a trait which is not as common as it should be; the humanity of his intercourse with his subordinates. He was always ready to discuss their problems with them, and give them the benefit of his knowledge and experience. An acknowledged master in his chosen line, and justly proud of his work, he was singularly modest, and allowed his work to speak for him. But he radiated individuality, and throughout his active life drew to himself a host of friends.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1924 Century Association Yearbook