Archie Alphonso Alexander was born in 1888 in Ottumwa, Iowa. He was an African-American mathematician and engineer who studied at the State University of Iowa and in 1912 was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the university. In 1929 Archie Alexander formed Alexander and Repass, a bridge building company. Maurice A. Repass, who was Caucasian, had played football with Alexander at the State University of Iowa. The contractors were responsible for the construction of many roads and bridges, including the extension of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway into the District of Columbia. They also built the famed Tidal Basin Bridge in Washington, D.C. By 1950 Archie Alphonso Alexander had become the most successful black entrepreneur in America. He died in 1958 in Iowa.