Leah Moncure, P.E.

Duane's take

The official marker tells this story, and I'm gonna do it justice. Now, Bastrop, Texas has seen its share of remarkable people walk down Main Street. But there's one name on this marker that deserves a long, slow look — Leah Moncure, P.E.

She came into this world on June 7, 1904, and the doctors, bless their hearts, didn't give her much of a runway. Born with a congenital heart defect, they predicted she wouldn't grow into adulthood. Well.

Leah apparently didn't put much stock in predictions. Her father was Cassius Lee Moncure — C.L. to folks who knew him — a Bastrop County Surveyor and a civil engineer. Her mother was Hattie Nuckols Moncure.

In 1911, the family moved into a house on Main Street, and that detail matters, because Main Street is going to bookend this whole story. Young Leah, growing up in that house, didn't just watch her father work. She picked up the tools.

She learned the materials. She learned the methods. At an early age, she was already acting as a draftsman for her father.

The surveying life was in her blood before she ever had a title to hang on the wall. She graduated from Baylor University in 1925 — with high honors, and a double major in mathematics and education. That's not a quiet exit from school.

That's a statement. But when she looked around for an engineering opportunity, she found her options limited. So she taught in Houston for a year.

Then she worked for a consulting firm. And somewhere in all of that, a realization settled in: she needed a degree in civil engineering to pursue the career of her dreams. So Leah enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, School of Engineering.

And in 1937, she graduated. Now here's where the story plants its flag in the ground. On April 22, 1938, Leah Moncure became Engineer Number 2250 — the state's first woman to register as a professional engineer.

Not just the first that year. The first, full stop. And for a number of years after that, she was the only licensed female engineer in the state of Texas.

Let that settle in. The only one. She also became the first female life member of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Firsts were becoming a pattern. And then there was the Texas Highway Department. Leah became its first female engineer, working there for 32 years.

Thirty-two years specializing in research, right-of-way, and road design in east Texas and Austin. The roads she worked on — she helped think them through, map them out, design them right. She retired in 1964.

And where did she go? Back to that house on Main Street. The childhood home.

Full circle. In 1965, a scholarship for female engineering students at UT Austin was established in her name. The door she'd had to shoulder open was now being held a little wider for the women coming up behind her.

Leah Moncure died on January 17, 1972. She's buried in Bastrop's Fairview Cemetery. The doctors said she wouldn't make it to adulthood.

She made it to Engineer Number 2250, to 32 years with the Texas Highway Department, to a scholarship in her name, and to a marker on the streets of the town where she was born. Not bad for someone they counted out before she ever got started.

What the marker says

(June 7, 1904 - January 17, 1972) As the Texas Highway Department's first female engineer, Leah Moncure, P.E., broke barriers at a time when the engineering field was dominated by men. Leah was born in Bastrop to Cassius Lee (C.L.) Moncure, a Bastrop County Surveyor and a civil engineer, and Hattie Nuckols Moncure. The family moved into a house on Main Street in 1911. At an early age, Leah showed an interest in the surveying profession and became familiar with tools, materials and methods, often acting as a draftsman for her father. Early on, doctors predicted that Leah would not grow into adulthood as she was born with a congenital heart defect. However, Leah persevered. She graduated in 1925 from Baylor University with high honors and a double major in mathematics and education. As she looked for an engineering opportunity, she found her options limited. Moncure taught in Houston for a year before working for a consulting firm. Realizing that she needed a degree in civil engineering to pursue the career of her dreams, Leah enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), School of Engineering and graduated in 1937. On April 22, 1938, Leah Moncure became Engineer No. 2250, the state's first woman to register as a professional engineer and the only licensed female for a number of years. Moncure also became the first female life member of the National Society of Professional Engineers. Moncure worked for the Texas Highway Department for 32 years, specializing in research, right-of-way, and road design in east Texas and Austin. Leah retired in 1964 and moved back to her childhood home on Main Street. In 1965, a scholarship for female engineering students at UT Austin was established in her name. Moncure died in 1972 and is buried in Bastrop's Fairview Cemetery. (2020)