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{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox nrhp▼
{{multiple issues|
| name = Waterways Experiment Station▼
{{more citations needed|date=June 2016}}
| nrhp_type = hd▼
{{speculation|date=June 2016}}
{{self-published|date=June 2016}}}}
| location= Roughly bounded by Spillway, Durden Creek, Tennessee Rd., and Dam Spillway, [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]]▼
| nocat = yes
| image = Waterways Experiment Station (1968).png
| caption = Entrance to WES (1968).
▲
| coordinates = {{coord|32|17|50|N|90|52|10|W|display=inline,title}}
| built = 1930
▲ | locmapin = Mississippi
▲ | architect = [[US Army Corps of Engineers]]
▲ | added = December 13, 2000
▲ | area = {{convert|16|acre}}
▲ | refnum = 00001511<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2009a}}</ref>
}}
The '''Waterways Experiment Station''' ('''WES''') is a [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] research campus in [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]]. The {{convert|673|acre|adj=on}} campus hosts the headquarters of the [[Engineer Research and Development Center]] (ERDC) and four of its seven laboratories. Congress authorized the research complex in 1929 to develop flood control methods on the [[Mississippi River]], as part of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project. Subsequent research delved into topics, including [[coastal engineering]], dredging, weapons effects, and [[geotechnical engineering]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station |url=https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/us-army-corps-of-engineers-waterways-experiment-station |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=American Society of Civil Engineers |language=en-US}}</ref>
The facility was listed on the U.S. [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2000 in part for its architecture. The listing was for a {{convert|16|acre|adj=on}} area roughly bounded by Spillway, Durden Creek, Tennessee Rd., and Dam Spillway, in Vicksburg, with five [[contributing buildings]] and three [[contributing structures]].<ref name=nris/>
==History==
[[File:Waterways Experiment Station (Acquisitions).png|thumb|right|350px|Land acquisition history and extent of WES.]]
The modern interest in scale modeling to study hydraulic engineering may be traced back to a demonstration model of flow over a weir in a glass-sided flume at the [[University of Michigan]] in the late 19th century. A visiting professor from the [[Dresden University of Technology|Technical College at Dresden]], {{Interlanguage link|Hubert Engels|de|3=Hubert Engels (Ingenieur)}}, witnessed the model and upon his return, built a similar model in Dresden. Other hydraulic models were built at [[Karlsruhe Institute of Technology|Karlsruhe]] and [[Delft University of Technology|Delft]] (under the supervision of Prof. [[Jo Thijsse]]) soon afterwards. [[John Ripley Freeman|John Freeman]] is credited with reviving interest in hydraulic models in the United States, establishing a traveling fellowship in his name with the [[American Society of Civil Engineers]] in 1925 after repeated visits to the laboratory in Dresden.<ref name=HistWES />
The [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]] prompted Congress to pass the [[Flood Control Act of 1928]], authorizing numerous Corps of Engineers projects to control flooding along the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, Freeman campaigned for a national hydraulic laboratory, which resulted in a 1928 bill sponsored by Sen. [[Joseph E. Ransdell|Joseph Ransdell]] proposing construction of a laboratory in Washington, DC under the auspices of the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology|Bureau of Standards]] after gaining the ear of then-[[United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce]] [[Herbert Hoover]]. After passing the Senate, [[Chief of Engineers]] General [[Edgar Jadwin]] testified against the proposed location before the House of Representatives, stating the laboratory should serve as a practical study of the [[Mississippi River]], and as such, should be located on the Mississippi itself. As a result, the House deferred a decision on the national hydraulic laboratory until the following session. Jadwin's subordinates testified before the House in 1929 after visiting European hydraulic laboratories. Their testimony pointed out the differences in scale between North American rivers and European rivers would require larger models and more flexibility.<ref name=HistWES />
Today there are over 1,200 employees, including several full-time members of the [[United States Armed Forces]]. Over 650 of these employees are engineers and scientists who are widely known and respected for their work in such diverse areas as [[hydraulics]], [[oceanography]], [[chemistry]], [[electronics]], [[physics]], [[mathematics]], [[soils engineering|soils]], [[seismology]], [[limnology]], [[forestry]], [[microbiology]] - virtually every major scientific and engineering discipline.▼
[[Memphis, Tennessee]] was proposed as the first site for a hydraulic laboratory in June 1929, but once the [[Mississippi River Commission]] headquarters were moved from St. Louis to Vicksburg in November, the hydraulic laboratory followed, with land purchased near Durden Creek on February 14, 1930.<ref name=HistWES />
WES research is carried out in five separate, but closely interrelated laboratories: Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Geotechnical Laboratory, Structures Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, and Information Technology Laboratory.▼
WES's role as the first federal hydraulics research facility was to help the Mississippi River Commission develop and implement a flood control plan for the lower Mississippi Valley. The first river model, a model of the [[Illinois River]] built in the summer of 1930 to establish the backwater limit of the Mississippi, was dug in natural soil with a [[grapefruit knife]].<ref name=HistWES>{{cite journal |url=http://cdm16021.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16021coll4/id/84/rec/2 |title=Origin of the Waterways Experiment Station |author=Vogel, Herbert D. |date=March–April 1961 |volume=53 |number=352 |pages=132–135 |journal=The Military Engineer |accessdate=19 August 2016}}</ref>
==Historical organizational structure==
In 1968, hydraulic studies at WES were divided into five divisions:<ref name=AppV>{{cite book |url=http://cdm16021.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16021coll4/id/84/rec/2 |title=History of the Waterways Experiment Station |chapter=Appendix V: Hydraulics Division |author=Tiffany, Joseph B. |date=1968 |publisher=United States Army Corps of Engineers |accessdate=19 August 2016}}</ref>
* Waterways, specializing in fluvial hydraulics using fixed-bed and movable-bed models
* Estuaries, specializing in tidal hydraulics using fixed-bed models
* Structures, specializing in dam appurtenances using scale models
* Water Waves, specializing in surface wave action using fixed-bed harbor models and testing flumes
* Hydraulic Analysis, specializing in the development and dissemination of hydraulic design data and procedures
==Mississippi Basin Model==
{{main|Mississippi River Basin Model}}
The Mississippi Basin Model was the largest single project undertaken by WES. It was initiated by then-Chief of Engineers [[Eugene Reybold]] in 1943. Construction took place from 1947 through 1966, and its scope included most of the Mississippi River and its tributaries (excluding the upper reach and the lower reach below Baton Rouge). The partially-completed model was used to create flood control strategies during the April 1952 flood on the Missouri River.<ref name=AppV />
==Current mission==
▲Today there are over 1,200 employees,{{update inline|date=August 2016}} including several full-time members of the [[United States Armed Forces]]. Over 650 of these employees are engineers and scientists who
▲
<blockquote>
The history of engineering is the story of men and women in their attempts to understand, control, and accommodate their environment. In 1929 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established a small hydraulics laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in recognition of the increasingly vital role of scientific investigation in a laboratory setting as a necessary adjunct to the age-old practice of actual hands-on observation. Discoveries emanating from the laboratory, designated as the Waterways Experiment Station, paid immediate dividends and sparked a new confidence among the nation’s engineering community to make bold advancements and challenge or affirm long-standing doctrines. This initial success broadened the Waterways Experiment Station’s activities from mere hydraulic experiments for the Mississippi River to a
</blockquote>
==References==
{{
{{Commons category}}
==External links==
*[http://www.erdc.usace.army.mil Website for US Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center]
*{{HAER |survey=MS-2 |id=ms0176 |title=Waterways Experiment Station, Hydraulics Laboratory, Halls Ferry Road, 2 miles south of I-20, Vicksburg, Warren County, MS |photos=48 |color=1 |data=62 |cap=5}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi]]▼
[[Category:Government buildings completed in 1930]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in
[[Category:United States Army Corps of Engineers]]
[[Category:Water transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places]]
[[Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi]]
▲[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Warren County, Mississippi]]
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