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WILFRED McGREGOR HALL
7894-1986
BY CHARLES C. NOBLE
WIEFRED MCGREGOR HALL one of the world s great engi-
neers anc! construction managers, diec] in Boston on Novem-
ber 5, 1986, two weeks after suffering a stroke. He was
ninety-two and hac! been professionally active almost until
the time of his death. He retirect as chairman of the Chas. T.
Main Corporation and the Chas. T. Main Engineers, Inc., in
1985, when the corporation anc! its subsidiaries were sold to
Parsons Corporation of Pasadena, California.
Mac Hall was born in Denver, Colorado, on June 12, IS94,
anct was reerect in New Hampshire. He returned to Denver
to attenct the University of Coloraclo, earning his B.S. in civil
engineering in 1916. This event marked the beginning of a
long and distinguished career of almost seventy vears in the
fields of engineering and construction.
,,
With his sheepskin packed away, Mac Hall joined Chas. T.
Main, a Boston-basecl engineering company, as a fielcl and
research engineer in 1916. His service with Main was inter-
rupted by WorIc! War I; he left the company in 1917 to join
the U.S. Army. With the war ended, he rejoined Main in
1920. After two years, he again left to become project super-
visor for various construction companies on a number of hy-
clroelectric projects in Puerto Rico and Brazil.
In 1941 Mac Hall returned to Chas. T. Main to help the
company with its World War IT workload. Within two years,
179
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180
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
he hack been named one of Main's directors, a signal accom-
plishment in this closely held private firm. In 1957 he be-
came its president; this achievement was followed in 1971 by
his election as chairman of the board, a position he held until
his retirement in ~985.
Mac Hall's career extended considerably beyond the
length of two normal careers. He clid not believe in retire-
ment so long as his mind remained sharp anc! clear but held
to the oIcI tradition that a man shouIcI "die with his boots
on" which he essentially did. His record of notable engi-
neering achievements formed a chronicle of the growth and
development of the engineering field and contributed mate-
rially to the recognition and acceptance of the engineering
profession's role as vital to the welfare of man and his envi-
ronment.
His accomplishments in the field of physical works ant!
their conception ant! realization spanned a wide spectrum of
large-scale engineering projects and programs throughout
the developed and developing worIcl. Typical are the St. l~aw-
rence ant! Niagara hydroelectric projects, which were the
worId's largest at the time anct for which he had major re-
sponsibility for engineering and construction management.
Of these, Robert Moses wrote to Mr. Hall that they were "a
tribute to the quality of leadership in your organization anct
the excellence of your design and supervisory forces."
In the fiel(1 of management and administration, he broa(l-
enect the scope of Chas. T. Main; through innovation and the
leadership and inspiration of his subordinates, he led the
company to a position as one of the ten largest engineering
and construction management firms in the United States. At
the time of its sale to Parsons, Main employed more than
3,000 employees and was recognized worldwide as a leading
design, engineering, and construction firm.
Main provident a full scope of project and construction
management, as well as construction and support services. It
provided these services through a multidisciplined group of
professionals using the latest advances in engineering, con-
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WILFRED MCGREGOR HALL
181
struction, and computer technology in pursuing the clients's
objectives. Under Mac Hall's stewardship, Main expanded its
fields to include projects involving thermal power genera-
tion; hydroelectric power generation and a full scale of water
resources; power systems transmission and distribution; in-
dustrial processes and manufacturing facilities covering
pulp, paper, and forest industries, printing and publishing,
chemicals, plastics and textiles, light and heavy manufactur-
ing, and electronics and electrical equipment; total-plant en-
ergy systems; and environmental compliance, conservation,
and controls.
Mac Hall drummed the firm's philosophy into his subor-
dinates: "Do it well, on time, within budget." He engendered
pride in the fact that since its incorporation, Main had served
more than 3,000 clients worldwide and completed more than
14,000 assignments—a long step from one of its earliest pro-
posals ~ January 2S, IS93), for the design of an electric plant
for the Lynn, Massachusetts, Gas and Electric Light Com-
pany.
Looking back on Mac Hall's long career, one recognizes
that, in the area of engineering contributions to society, he
warrants a ranking among the top individuals in the world,
having earned wide recognition for his significant engineer-
ing accomplishments. Mac Hall was a fierce achiever, one of
those towering giants who appears on the world scene all too
infrequently. The litany of his activities and awards attests to
his wide-ranging interests and prestige.
He was registered as a professional engineer in forty-two
states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Turkey, and the
provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He was a fel-
low of the American Society of Civil Engineers; a past presi-
dent of the U.S. Committee on Large Dams, the U.S. Com-
mittee on Irrigation and Drainage, and the Northeastern
Chapter of the American Institute of Consulting Engineers;
a director of the American Consulting Engineering Council
of New England; a member of the Boston Society of Civil
Engineers, the Massachusetts Society of Professional Engi-
.
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
neers, the Society of American Military Engineers, and the
Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts and Com-
merce; a past director of the Massachusetts Society for the
Prevention of Blindness ant! the Gooc~will Industries; a
member of the Beavers and the Moles construction societies;
and a director of the Newcomen Society of North America.
His awards were many. Among them were an honorary
doctorate of engineering from Tufts University (1955), the
American Society of Chemical Engineers' Outstanding Civil
Engineering Achievement Awarcl (1960), the University of
Colorado Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award
(1967), the Ralph W. Horne Award from the Boston Society
of Civil Engineers (1970), the George Westinghouse Gold
Medal Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers (1971), the George Norlin Silver Medal by the Univer-
sity of Colorado (1972), the Newcomen Society of North
America Award for Distinguished Service (1975), and the
Engineer of the Year Award from the Engineers Club of Bos-
ton ~ ~ 9771.
In 1983 Wilfred McGregor Hall was honoree} by being se-
lected for membership in the National Academy of Engi-
neering. His election to the academy was the capstone of a
long, distinguishecI, ancI honored career as a leader, an en-
gineer, and an administrator. With his death in 1986 came
the passing of the Grant! Old Man of Engineering.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
mcgregor hall
