Born in 1889, Bartholomew was raised in Brooklyn and attended Rutgers for two years before entering the workforce. He later received two honorary Rutgers degrees: a B.S. in civil engineering in 1921 and a doctorate in 1952. For many years he was president of Harland Bartholomew & Associates, a firm that served as city planners for at least 125 major American and Canadian cities.

Bartholomew´s many contributions included serving as a consultant on planning at Rutgers, especially for the Busch campus. He was the first paid planner for the City of Newark. In 1940 President Roosevelt appointed him as a member of the "Interregional Highway Committee." The report of this committee, made in 1944, was the start of the U.S. Interstate Highway System. In 1953 President Eisenhower appointed Bartholomew chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, which led to the construction of the Washington "Metro." He was also a professor of civic design at the University of Illinois. He died December 2, 1989, a few months after his 100th birthday.