Octave Chanute - Chanute’s Link to Aviation History

Kansas has many well-known links to aviation with names such as Cessna, Beech, Earhart, and others.  One name that should be included in this list is Octave Chanute, the namesake of the City of Chanute.    

Born in Paris on February 18, 1832, Octave Chanute emigrated to the United States at age six with his father.  Although he had no education in engineering, Octave Chanute would become one of the foremost civil engineers of the nineteenth century.

Attracted to railroading, he began working as a civil engineer at the age of seventeen.  Ten years later, he became Chief Engineer of the Chicago and Alton Railroad.

In 1867, he moved to Kansas City to build the first bridge to span the Missouri River.  The project was considered a greater engineering feat than bridging the “mighty” Mississippi River. 

During the next four years, Chanute was in charge of building four railroad lines in Kansas.  One of these lines would go through a town that would be formed and named after him in 1873, Chanute, Kansas. 

Chanute also designed and built the Kansas City Union Stockyards.  Later he chaired a committee formed to invest a rapid transit system for the City of New York, giving the City the famous “EL”.

Chanute also studied the problem of wood preservation and set up facilities for preservation of timbers by the use of creosote.  To determine the success or failure of the creosote process, Chanute invented the date nail, which was used by railroad and telephone companies until the 1960’s.  This was to remain his principle means of financial support.

Chanute moved to Chicago in 1889 and began working on solving “the problem of the ages” – heavier-than-air flight.  He devoted his full-time to the subject until his death in 1910.

Chanute corresponded with men all over the world interested in flight.  He gathered all the information could find, looking into records of experiments going back 300 years.  In 1891, he wrote a series of articles, which were republished in the book, Progress in Flying Machines. 

Progress in Flying Machines made Octave Chanute the world’s first aviation historian, but, more importantly, for the first time experimenters could read of work done before them and not have to waste time by repetition.

In 1896, at the age of 64, Chanute began to actively experiment with gliders along the shores of Lake Michigan near Gary, Indiana.  During his glider experiments, he developed the biplane.  His biplane design was so successful that it underwent few changes during the next 50 years.  It was the Chanute Biplane that the Wright Brothers modeled their Kitty Hawk after.

In 1899, the Wright Brothers wrote to Dr. Samuel P. Langley, that they were about to begin aviation experiments and they wanted to know how to build and fly gliders.  Langley replied that they should read Progress in Flying Machines and contact Chanute in Chicago. 

The Wright Brothers received their copy of Octave Chanute’s book personally from the author, who became both their friend and advisor.  At their invitation, Chanute visited the Wrights at Dayton, Ohio, and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and it was Octave Chanute who, at a meeting in December, 1903, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science announced to the world that the Wright Brothers had flown in an heavier than air machine.

Wilbur Wright wrote:  “If he (Chanute) had not lived, the entire history of progress in flying would have been other than it has been, for he encouraged not only the Wright Brothers to persevere in their experiments, but (his) private correspondence with experimenters in all parts of the world was of great volume.  No one was too humble to receive a share of his time.  In patience and goodness of heart, he has rarely been surpassed.  Few men were more universally respected and loved.”

Chanute shared freely all information with any fellow experimenter who asked for it.  He was a clearinghouse of information and kept experimenters the world over informed as to what he and others were doing.  Chanute never tried to financially profit from his experiments and firmly believed that so many had worked towards the solution of flight that no one person, or persons, could take sole credit for the solution.  He avoided all efforts to publicize his efforts in aviation and urged his children to do likewise.  It has been estimated that Octave Chanute spent over $100,000 of his own money on his and others’ aviation experiments.

Octave Chanute is a man who made a difference.  Because of the role he played in opening up the west as a railroad and bridge builder, the advancement he caused in railroad technology, as a Founding Father of the science of aviation, Octave Chanute is still having impact on our daily lives.

Bradley Eilts, Assistant City Manager, City of Chanute

The City of Chanute was given the above artwork commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first heavier-than-air flight by the Wright Brothers.  The artwork was a gift from the Chanute High School’s Class of 1941. 

This project continues to evolve, as the City plans to add landscaping and information regarding the linkage of the Wright Brothers and the Octave Chanute.  The Artwork is located just off Chanute’s Main Street in the heart of the downtown area.