Last modified: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 4:30 PM CDT

Submitted photo/ Attendees of last week's City Council meeting enjoyed a surprise birthday cake to celebrate the 200th birthday of James Pugh Kirkwood.

By Kelly McCann

Every day, as residents and visitors of Kirkwood cross over the city's railroad tracks and pass the train depot, the legacy of the city's namesake lives on.

This month marks the 200th birthday of James Pugh Kirkwood, famed 19th century civil engineer who gave the city its railway and its name.

In 1850, as the expansion of the railroad system headed West, James Pugh Kirkwood of Edinburgh, Scotland, was appointed chief engineer of the Pacific Railroad. Kirkwood spent six months surveying 800 miles of three proposed routes for the railroad. After the route through present-day Kirkwood was selected, tracts of land were sold to help pay for the expensive project.

June Dahl, author of "A History of Kirkwood," writes that members of the Kirkwood Association officially named the city after James Pugh Kirkwood in 1852. These men were given the task of acquiring land for the association and named their newly obtained property after the man who ultimately gave the city its first breath.

Born March 27, 1807, Kirkwood is credited with more than just the founding of Kirkwood, Mo. He began his career in Scotland and traveled to the United States in the 1830s to work in New York. In addition to railroad routes, Kirkwood also was responsible for building bridges and waterways. He served as the president of the American Society of Civil Engineers from 1867 to 1868.

Kirkwood, N.Y., also is named for the engineer. In May 1998, delegations from both Kirkwood, Mo., and Kirkwood, N.Y., dedicated a special monument at James Pugh Kirkwood's gravesite in Brooklyn's Greenwood Cemetery in New York.

Last week, attendees of the Kirkwood City Council meeting honored the memory of the town's founding father with a surprise birthday cake.

"It's not every day you can have a surprise party to celebrate the bicentennial of the individual your community is named for," said Mayor Mike Swoboda.

You can contact Kelly McCann at kmccann@yourjournal.com.