Albert L. Washburn

Albert L. Washburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut on 4 July 1857. He ran away to sea, and in 1876, he shipped out of New London, Connecticut on the square-rigger Elizabeth Hamilton. He and another member of the crew were left to guard equipment on an island off the east coast of Patagonia; when they were picked up three months later, his companion was ill with scurvy. On his way back to Hartford from Argentina, he fell 45 feet from a yardarm to the deck and returned home on a stretcher. In 1896, he became associated with Luther B. Zurt, the assistant city engineer. In 1903, he formed a partnership with Norman A. Spencer as Spencer & Washburn, civil engineers. At one time, he was said to know more about Hartford landmarks than any other person. He was a member of the Putnam Phalanx and a collector of antique maps. He died in Sarasota, Florida at the age of 90.