Following his graduation in 1912 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York — which was founded in 1824 and is the oldest engineering school in the United States — civil engineer Ralph L. Garlinghouse (1889-1982) held several engineering positions on
Following his graduation in 1912 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York — which was founded in 1824 and is the oldest engineering school in the United States — civil engineer Ralph L. Garlinghouse (1889-1982) held several engineering positions on the U.S. Mainland.
He started off as a structural steel designer and inspector with the New York Central Railway in Cleveland, Ohio in 1912.
Afterwards, he worked as location engineer and resident engineer of the California Highway Commission on the Yosemite Valley Road, and as a structural engineer with Great Western Power Co. in San Francisco.
During World War I, following training as a U.S. Navy marine engineer and steam engineer, Garlinghouse served as a naval officer at several stations on shore and at sea.
Then, in 1921, he came to Hawaii to take charge of military road construction at Schofield Barracks, Oahu with the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Later that year, the Corps transferred him to Kauai to direct construction of the Nawiliwili Harbor breakwater, a post he held for three years, after which he became Kauai County Engineer.
As County Engineer, Garlinghouse carried on the design and building work begun by civil engineer Joseph Hughes Moragne on the Kauai Belt Road — the roadway that partially encircles Kauai from Haena to Mana.
Other designers of the Belt Road included Hamilton and Chambers of New York. County employees and private contractors like George Mahikoa actually built the Belt Road.
Garlinghouse also engineered the Garlinghouse Tunnel, a major source of drinking water for the Lihue area, located about one and a half miles mauka of Lihue.
In 1934, he joined Lihue Plantation as plantation engineer, where he was responsible for a number of engineer projects until his retirement in 1954.
Born and raised in Colorado, Garlinghouse married Betty Davison in 1919 and they had three children.
