Samuel Diescher was born in Budapest on July 25, 1839. He was educated at Karlsruhe Polytechnique College and at the University of Zurich. Coming to the United States in 1866, he settled in Cincinnati, where he built his first inclined plane.
He came to Pittsburgh and was associated with John Endres, the builder of the Monongahela Incline and whose daughter, Caroline, he married(in 1871 or 1872). Thereafter, the Dieschers made their home on Mount Washington. Mr. Diescher earned an excellent and widespread reputation as a civil engineer.
The majority of the heavy inclined planes in the United States were designed and constructed by him. In addition to The Duquesne Incline, other Pittsburgh's inclines, and the Cincinnati incline he constructed, he built one in Johnstown, two in Duluth, one in Wheeling, and two in South America.
He was the designing engineer of the machinery for operating the Ferris Wheel(invented in Pittsburgh) at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Mr. Diescher was very active in highway engineering and street-railway construction, and he was well-known for designing and building coal-washing plants, coke works, water works, machine shops, and rolling mills. He retired in 1908 and died on December 24, 1915.
Chronology of Pittsburgh Inclines
History of Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries
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