"All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work."
—Calvin Cooledge
1871 Candidacy Announcement
(Click to enlarge)

The Next Generation

Harry G. Javins has been listed on the firm letterhead as having been a member since 1871, but firm records indicate that he was employed here at least as early as 1868. Similarly, Septimus P. Tustin is listed as having been a member since 1870, but he is reported to have been associated with Martenet as early as 1865.

Meanwhile, Martenet himself lobbied to gain and keep the City Surveyorship. The bill illustrated here restates what has always been true: taking matters for granted is never a safe bet. He was successful in the effort that year (1871), and also in each of the next four elections.

Martenet died in 1892 and his four "principal assistants" purchased the assets of the firm from his widow. 

Javins died in 1894, just a year and a half after Martenet, and the firm would be controlled by Tustin, J. Howard Sutton and William O. Atwood for the next 4 decades.

Atwood was elected twice to the City Surveyorship, later serving as the head of the Bureau of Plans and Surveys and thus divided his time between firm activities and City responsibilities. He also ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee for State Comptroller and for the Fourth Congressional District seat. Records suggest that he was involved more on the "front-end" of the business (client contact, project scope, etc.) than on fieldwork, computations or drawings. Most of the financial data from this period has been lost, so precise conclusions as to who did what are beyond our reach. This period also saw a great deal of business from Baltimore City itself through the Commissioners for Opening Streets, the City Engineer and the Mayor and City Council. In 1898, Samuel A. Thompson joined the firm.

Previous: The Early Years


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