He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on January 25, 1859. He attended the Pennsylvania Military College at Chester, Pennsylvania. He first started working on the railroad in 1883 as a rodman doing surveying on the Black Hills branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He progressed from rodman to chainman, draftsman, leveler, transitman, assistant engineer, division engineer, principal assistant engineer, and from November 1, 1893 to January 1, 1896, he was the chief engineer. Starting on October 1, 1904 he was the first vice-president of the Consolidated Railway. He was also in charge of construction, operation and maintenance of the trolley lines owned by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. He was the fourth vice-president, New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, in charge of the electrical department. While working for the Northern Pacific, McHenry performed two notable engineering feats, and made one memorable marketing suggestion:
In 1893, McHenry was in Chicago visiting the Columbian Exposition. While there, he visited the Korean display and noticed the prominent ying-yang symbol in the Korean flag. He suggested the suitability of this symbol to the Northern Pacific General Passenger Agent Charles S. Fee and circa 1896 the symbol was adopted as the logotype of the newly reorganized Northern Pacific Railway.
was named by the Northern Pacific for him. Frances, Washington was named by McHenry for his wife, whose middle name was Frances.
Engineering
In the 1880s on the Northern Pacific, McHenry was the principal assistant engineer on Stampede Pass during the construction of Stampede Tunnel, linking western Washington and especially the Puget Sound ports of Seattle and Tacoma to the East by rail.
In the early 1890s McHenry was tasked with locating a line from the vicinity of Logan westward to Butte, Montana. During the course of this work McHenry discovered Homestake Pass, the pass which Interstate 90 now crosses the Continental Divide in Montana.
Publications and papers
McHenry, Edwin H. Rules for Railway Location and Construction Used on the Northern Pacific Railway Estimating Overhaul in Earthwork. New York: Engineering News Publishing, 1901.
McHenry's papers as chief engineer of the Northern Pacific are held by the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota. Some additional papers and correspondence are held by the University of Montana's K. Ross Toole Archives in Missoula, Montana.
