Fairman Rogers

American academic (1833–1900)

Fairman Rogers (November 15, 1833 – August 22, 1900) was an American civil engineer, educator and equestrian. He worked as a professor of civil engineering at the University of Pennsylvania from 1855 to 1871 and as a trustee from 1871 to 1886. He was one of the founders of the Department of Mines, Arts and Manufactures and co founded the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University. He served briefly in the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry during the American Civil War and volunteered his engineering talents to survey the Potomac River and during the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns. He served as director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, as chairman of their committee on instruction from 1878 to 1883, and led the competition for the design and construction of their new building. He was an avid equestrian and coach driving enthusiast. He published pamphlets and books on the topic and founded the Philadelphia Coaching Club. His collection of over 1,000 books with a focus on horses was donated to the University of Pennsylvania to create the Fairman Rogers Collection.

Fairman Rogers was born in Philadelphia on November 15, 1833, to Caroline Augusta and Evans Rogers. His father was a wealthy industrialist. He studied roads and bridges and lectured at the Franklin Institute on mechanics and physics and at Harvard University on road construction. He was one of four professors who founded its Department of Mines, Arts and Manufacturers in 1855. He co founded the School of Veterinary Science and served as a University Trustee from 1871 to 1886. the Academy of Natural Sciences and a charter member of the National Academy of Sciences. He served as chairman of PAFA's Committee on Instruction (1878–83). He recruited the controversial artist Thomas Eakins back to teach at the school, and commissioned the painting from him: The Fairman Rogers Four in Hand (1879–80). It shows Rogers, his wife, and friends driving through Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. In 1882, he promoted Eakins to director of PAFA's art school.

In 1861, he served as first sergeant in the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry for three months during the American Civil War. He worked on the engineering staffs of General John F. Reynolds and General William F. Smith.

Rogers hired Furness to alter his Rittenhouse Square city house (1871), and to design "Fairholme" (1874–75, now altered), his summer cottage in Newport, Rhode Island. He also had a country house in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. Rogers later sold his city house, and Furness altered it for Alexander J. Cassatt in 1888. He was an amateur photographer and one of the founders of the Philadelphia Photographic Society. In 1903, his brother in law, Horace Howard Furness, wrote a biographical memoir titled F. R. [Fairman Rogers] 1833 1900 (Philadelphia: privately printed, 1903). The University of Pennsylvania established the Fairman Rogers Collection which contains over 1,000 books with a focus on horses. In 2007, the University hosted an exhibition titled "Equus Unbound: Fairman Rogers and the Age of the Horse" which displayed works from the collection.

The Magnetism of Iron Vessels With a Short Treatise on Terrestrial Magnetism., New York: D. Van Nostrand, Publisher, 1877
"A Manual of Coaching", Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1900