George Washington Goethals (29 June 1858-21 January 1928) was Governor of the Panama Canal Zone from 1914 to 1917, preceding Chester Harding, as well as the State Engineer of New Jersey in 1917. The Goethals Bridge, which connects Elizabeth, New Jersey with Staten Island, New York, is named for him.
Biography[]
George Washington Goethals was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1858 to Flemish immigrants from Stekene, Belgium. He graduated second in his class at West Point in 1880, and he became a second lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. He taught civil and military engineering at West Point from 1885 to 1889, and, during the Spanish-American War, he was a Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of Engineers of the US Volunteers. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Goethals chief engineer of the Panama Canal, and the canal was completed in 1914, two years ahead of schedule. He then served as Governor of the Panama Canal Zone from 1914 to 1917, and he served as State Engineer of New Jersey in 1917, as acting Quartermaster-General of the US Army from 1917 to 1919, and President of George W. Goethals & Co. from 1919 to 1923. He died in 1928, and the Goethals Bridge from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Staten Island, New York was named for him.