Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-03-02
New Highway.
Chief Has Long.
Service Record
Commissioner Nj. ]. HOff-
man Has Served Highway
Department Since 1914.

M. j. Hoffman was appointed State
Commissioner of Highways, January
4, 1899, by Governor Harold E. Stas-
SEN He assumed the duty of admin
istering Minnesota's 1880 miles of
trunk highways with a long record
behind him of accomplishments in
the field of public engineering service.
Mr. Hoffman, born in st. Paul in
1889, was graduated from Cleveland
high school in st. Paul in 1907, and
from the University of Minnesota,
as a civil engineer, in 1911.
He was employed as craftsman on
railroad bridge construction until jan
uary of 1914, when he joined the
Minnesota Highway Department I'M
der the late Commissioner Charles
M Babcock He served as bridge
craftsman for two years, worked on
surveys for one year, and in 1917
was appointed District Highway En-
gineer in northwestern Minnesota.
An EX-service Man.
He joined the Engineer Officers
Reserve and in September 1917 was
ordered to the engineer officers train
ing camp at Fort Leavenworth, Kan
Sas. Mr.. Hoffman went overseas as
a First Lieutenant with the Twenty
third Engineers and served with a
special contingent of army engineers
maintaining transportation lines in
the Lorraine sector. He returned
to the United States and was mus
tered out of service in February, 1919,
Immediately rejoining the State
Highway Department, where he was
reappointed district engineer in
charge of operations in southeastern
Minnesota.
In 1921 he was appointed assistant
maintenance engineer in the central
office of the department and in June,
1925, was appointed chief bridge
engineer, taking over that division
of the Department for the entire state
and also having general supervision
of departmental equipment, including
purchase of equipment and supplies.
He surrendered these latter duties
in 1888, but continued as chief bridge
engineer and assumed the additional
duties of budget director. From 1885
until his appointment as commits
sioner, he devoted all of his time to
his position as bridge engineer.
Some Fine Bridges.
AS chief of the Bridge Division,
it was Mr.. Hoffman's foresight and
persistence that resulted in the con-
struction of the first of the beautiful
and yet utilitarian type of wide con-
crete bridge structures that have
been almost universally adopted by
the Highway Department today. An
example of this is the broad span
across the Mississippi river at Anoka
which replaced, and is continuing
to replace, unsightly overhead steel
spans throughout the state.
Since that time, he directly super
vised the design and construction of
the two great bridges at Faribault
and at Brainerd, and some 1,450 other
structures on the trunk highway
system and state aid roads through
out the state.
Among other notable structures
"llSll ScillC ollOCl lllS I'LL SStlOll
the Midway Transfer underpass in
St. Paul, the underpass and overpass
structures on University Avenue
Northeast in Minneapolis, the grade
crossing and bridge structures at
Austin, Mankato, Grand Rapids and
Redwood Falls. He also supervised
Minnesota's share of the design and
construction of the jointly built in
terstate bridges over the Red river
between Fargo and Moorhead.
Mr.. Hoffman is member of the
Highway Post of the American Lee
gion, the Minnesota Surveyors and
Engineers Society, the Engineers So
ciety of st. Paul, and the Minnesota
Federation of Architectural and En-
gineering Societies.