HOLLIS, IRA NELSON: 1856-1930.
" Ira Nelson Hollis (Mar. 7, 1856-Aug. 14, 1930), naval engineer, educator, was born … in Floyd County, Ind., the son of Ephraim Joseph Hollis (1825-1910) and Mary (Kerns) Hollis. During the Civil War his father became captain in the 59th Indiana Regiment … later [he] became owner and operator of a quarry at Louisville, Ky. His wife was the daughter of a farmer in Steubenville, O. Ira's youth was spent at Louisville in straitened circumstances. He attended the local high school and then became an apprentice in a machine shop. He later secured a clerical position with a railroad, and then with a cotton commission house in Memphis . At the age of eighteen he took the examination for admission to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and came out at the head of the list, a position which he retained throughout the course. After graduating as cadet-engineer in 1878, he spent three years on the cruiser Quinnebaug … at the conclusion of the cruise [he] was detailed as professor of marine engineering at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. In 1884 he served with the advisory board for the construction of the ships of the White Squadron. Ordered to the Pacific coast in January 1887, he spent three years at the Union Iron Works, supervising the construction of the Charleston , and three years on board that vessel … In 1892 he was designated to lecture on naval engineering at the Naval War College at Newport , his lectures being subsequently published as a textbook for the navy. He then became assistant to the chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, but resigned from the navy in 1893 to take charge of the development of instruction in engineering at Harvard University.
"During his twenty years as professor of mechanical engineering at Harvard, Hollis built up a reputation as an educator and an administrator … He was active also in improving intercollegiate athletic relations, in establishing the Harvard Union … in founding the Engineers Club of Boston … In 1913 Hollis was called to the presidency of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute … he was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and in that position did valuable work for national preparedness. He resigned the presidency of the Institute in 1925 on account of ill health, returned to Cambridge, Mass., and devoted himself to writing until his death some five years later … On Aug. 22, 1894, he was married to Caroline (Lorman) Hollis, the daughter of Charles Lorman of Detroit . He was survived by four children … "
Condensed from L. S. M–s., Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. IX.
- War College Lectures on Naval Ships. 1892.
- The Frigate Constitution: the Central Figure of the Navy
Under Sail. Boston, 1900.
