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History of Dannenbaum Engineering
Dannenbaum Engineering was founded in 1945 by Joseph B. Dannenbaum on the anvil of trust, respect, and excellence. Mr. Dannenbaum was the Chief Engineer for the City of Houston Water Division when the City began its plans for Lake Houston. The design proposed by an out-of-state consultant was unsafe in his opinion, which led to his resignation so he could go public with his objections. The design was was changed to what he recommended and is still serving the City of Houston and adjoining areas to this day.

Dannenbaum Engineering designed numerous land development and industrial projects in the early years. The firm designed and patented an innovative sewage treatment plant concept that made it possible for sanitary sewer service to be provided to thousands in communities and developments that were beyond the reach of the existing city systems. On the industrial side, Dannenbaum Engineering pioneered both the use of tilt up wall and lift slab construction for industrial and warehouse buildings. The City of Houston continued to hire the firm for a variety of municipal projects, both streets and utility service.

Acre Homes Project
In the mid-sixties, Dannenbaum Engineering was selected to be the engineer to design public water and sewer service for an enclave in the city that included 50,000 residents who were totally without utility service. Working with then Congressman George H.W. Bush and the City of Houston, a series of joint federal and city funded financings made it possible in four installments to provide utility service for the entire area known as “Acres Homes.”

Firm Expansion and Major Projects
In 1967, Joseph Dannenbaum's son, Jim Dannenbaum, who was Executive Vice President, was elevated to the position of President of the firm. Under his leadership, the firm expanded its services to Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio.

In Dallas, the firm designed a large section of North Central Expressway, which included the pioneering concept of cantilevering the service roads over the main lanes in order to provide more traffic lanes in an area of restricted right of way. The firm also designed the Vista Ridge Regional Shopping Center, which became the gateway to the explosive growth north of Dallas in the corridor headed toward Denton. The firm also designed some of the early facilities for DART (the Dallas Area Rapid Transit) and numerous other municipal, land development, and commercial projects followed. The firm also designed major water transmission lines for Dallas Public Utilities, helping to further secure long term reliable water supply for Dallas and its surrounding suburbs.

In Fort Worth, the firm designed a number of municipal projects for the City of Fort Worth and highway projects for the Fort Worth District of the Texas Department of Transportation.

Meanwhile back in Houston at the home office of the company, the firm had been selected to design the City of Houston’s major East Water Plant, which had originally been projected to cost $100 million. Thanks to the firms successful design innovation, the low bid for the plant was just slightly over $60 million, and today that plant is producing almost double the design capacity as a major asset for the City of Houston’s water system.

Similarly, for Harris County, the firm performed a number of roadway designs but of notable impact was the firm’s participation in the earliest stages of the Harris County Toll Road Authority, which became the model for successful toll roads in the state, following the examples that had been set by the North Texas Toll Authority. These included major assignments on both the Hardy Toll Road and the Beltway 8 Toll Road System.

In San Antonio, the firm was privileged to design the headworks for the Corps of Engineers tunnel, which put the San Antonio River underground through downtown San Antonio, relieving downtown of its serious flooding problems and allowing for the recreational development of the San Antonio River along the River Walk and downtown. The firm also designed other utility projects for the City of San Antonio and did design work for the municipal airport in San Antonio and designed additional highway projects in the San Antonio District for the Texas Department of Transportation.