A Brief History of Concrete

For over 2,000 years, concrete has played a huge role in the building of some of mankind’s greatest creations. The master engineers of the Roman Empire started it all, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The history of concrete stretches back over 2,000 years, thanks to the genius of the engineers and craftsmen that prospered throughout the Roman Empire. The existence to this day of their buildings, aqueducts, roads and other structures is a testament to not only the people who built these landmarks, but to their incredibly resilient concrete mixtures that have stood the test of time.

Just within the last 10 years or so, scientists have unlocked the secrets to the durability of the concrete the Romans used for underwater structures such as breakwaters. These structures, despite the relentless pounding of the ocean for over 2000 years, have stood the test of time and are, amazingly,still in excellent condition.

The Romans not only created these virtually indestructible structures, they did it in a much more environmentally friendly way than modern methods for making concrete. Lessons learned from the Romans, according to a recent scientific study, may someday soon result in a concrete superior to today’s formulas, created in a more energy efficient manner and with less harmful effects to the air we breathe.

The “father” of what is considered to be present day concrete is a British engineer named John Smeaton. Hewas driven by necessity to create his concrete formulationfor the building of the third Eddystone Lighthouse in the United Kingdom, which was started in 1756 and completed in 1759. The first two lighthouses were destroyed by fire and storms, and Smeaton was determined to create and build a structure that would stand up to the elements. He succeeded, as the lighthouse stayed in service until 1877 and was only decommissioned as a result of the instability of the rocks on which the structure was built. The structure itself was still sound after more than a century of standing guard on the Eddystone Rocks at the entrance to the English Channel.

Since Mr. Smeaton first concocted his concrete recipe, many other inventions and innovations have contributed to what is today’s modern concrete. Major milestones include the invention in 1824 of Portland cement which is still used in concrete production, the concept of reinforced concrete in 1849, the building of the first concrete street in the United States in 1891, and the construction of the first two large concrete dams, Hoover and Grand Coulee, which were built in the 1930’s.

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