J. Haakon Hoff, now in charge of structural steel designing in the western division of the American Bridge Company, Chicago, subsidary of the United States Steel Corporation, was born in Oslo, Norway, April 15, 1867. He graduated from Ringeriks High School in 1884 and from the Polytechnic Institution at Oslo in 1888 as a Civil Engineer. He emigrated to America in August, 1888. The same year he found employment with his brother, Olaf Hoff, consulting and contracting engineer in Minneapolis, Minn. In 1889 he took a position as draftsman with the Milwaukee Bridge Company and the following year became chief engineer. In order to get greater experience in the building line he took a position with A. Gatlieb and Company, Chicago, at that time contractors for the structural steel for the Masonic Temple on State St., Chicago. The building covering half a block and is twenty-one stories high, was the first real "skyscraper" built in the world and for a number of years was the tallest building. Mr. Hoff worked on the details for the structural steel from the very beginning to the completion of this building. The Administration Building and Machinery Hall at the Chicago World's Fair were buildings on which Mr. Hoff worked as a detailer. In 1892 he worked in Milwaukee. In 1894, Mr. Hoff started in business in Chicago at the head of the firm of Mohn and Hoff, consulting engineers and contractors. Among the work that was carried out in the next three years was the furnishing of the sturctural stee for the County Jail, Chicago. The firm was the general contractor for the library building of the University of Illinois at Urbana. In 1897, the firm of 2Hoff Brothers was established and the following work was carried out by this firm; the designing and rebuilding of a bridge for the Chicago, Great-Western Railroad on the Chicago Division and acting as general contractors for the construction of the Chicago Great-Western Railroad Shops in Olwein, Iowa. Since 1901 Mr. Hoff has been connected with the American Bridge Company, first as contracting engineer, and since 1906, in charge of the Design and Estimate Department. The Western division designs and estimates nearly fifty-thousand tons of steel per month consisting of steel for office and hotel buildings, theater , factory buildings, mining structures, docks, and bridges.