Esteban D. Estrada

1859 – 1939

Born in Puerto Príncipe, Cuba, Esteban Duque Estrada came to the United States for his college education, earning a degree in civil engineering in 1883 at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Immediately after graduation, he joined the engineering corps of Juragua Iron Company in Santiago, Cuba. He returned to the United States in 1886 and was appointed assistant inspector of bridges for the Pennsylvania Company, a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

In 1890, he went into business for himself as a founding partner of Estrada, Kenyon & Gray, testing iron and steel used in building construction. In 1892, he married Isabel Reynolds, a native of Arnold, PA, who accompanied Estrada on his travels between the U.S. and Cuba over the next three decades. They had two children, Sarah Isabel and Esteban Estrada.

In the early 1900s, Estrada served as Chief Engineer of Pinar Del Rio province in Cuba, surveying and supervising public works. He was also appointed Commissioner General of Cuba’s exhibit at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis and was the chief engineer on the construction of the Cuba Pavilion. The government of newly independent Cuba spent more than $130,000 total on the exposition, of which $20,000 was dedicated to the Cuba Pavilion, representing the grand mansion-style homes in Havana.

Estrada was a member of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania (elected February 1888) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Esteban Estrada opened his savings account with Dollar Bank in November 1886.