HISTORY OF THE CAPITAL DISTRICT CHAPTER
In 1928, a group of Albany
engineers were called together by Mr. F. X. Bode, and a preliminary
meeting was held in the Journal building on November 16th for the
purpose of formally requesting a charter for the Albany County
Chapter. (The Journal building is the southern part of the old D & H
building now housing the SUNY Administration.) Mr. F. P. Williams
was made acting chairman and Mr. F. X. Bode the acting secretary.
Others present included Thomas A. Devane, Raymond J. Keays and H. R.
Hayes.
Following the meeting a
petition was circulated, and on November 28th a formal application
with five signatures was sent to President Sheridan of the New York
State Society of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors for a
charter for the Albany County Chapter.
On February 28th 1929, a
meeting was held in the Auditorium of the New York Power and Light
corporation, Albany, New York and a permanent organization of the
Albany County Chapter was effected as follows: President, A.G.
Chapman; Vice-President, W.M. Acheson; Secretary-Treasurer, H.R.
Hayes; Director, C.R. Vanneman; Director, Seth Wheeler, Jr.;
Director, O.F. Rowland; Director, Charles S. Sterling. (The New York
Power and Light Corporation is the predecessor of the Niagara Mohawk
Power Corporation whose location was 126 State Street, Albany, NY).
The Constitution and
By-laws were presented and unanimously adopted. A copy was forwarded
to President Sheridan on March 6, 1929, and a charter for the Albany
County Chapter was formally presented to its officers at the annual
convention of the State Society held in New York City on April 3,
1929.
The Constitution and
By-laws were presented and unanimously adopted. A copy was forwarded
to President Sheridan on March 6, 1929, and a charter for the Albany
County Chapter was formally presented to its officers at
the annual
convention of the State Society held in New York City on April 3,
1929. Through the efforts of F. X. Bode, Chairman of the membership
committee of the Albany County Chapter, a number of the licensed
engineers and land surveyors residing in Rensselaer County were
called together in City Engineer C.W. Morris' office at the City
Hall, Troy, New York, on the evening of Saturday, February 21st,
1932. (The City Hall building was located at the corner of State and
3rd. When the city Hall offices were relocated to its present
location, the old building was demolished and Barker Park was built
at this site.) At this time, it was unanimously decided to organize
the Rensselaer County Chapter of the NYSSPE and to apply to the
State Society for a charter. Officers chosen to conduct the affairs
of the Chapter were: President, F.J. Keis, Consulting Engineer,
Troy; Vice-President, J.E. Quinn, City Engineer, Rensselaer; and
Secretary-Treasurer, Grant K. Palsgrove, Professional of Hydraulic
Engineer, RPI. There were twenty-four enrolled as charter members.
Further organizational
meetings were held on March 9th and 21st, 1932, at which times the
Constitution and By-laws were prepared in final form and together
with the State charter, accepted by the Chapter.
The Schenectady County Chapter, the seventeenth
chapter to be organized in New York State, was formed on February
25, 1932 with the assistance of Edward E. Sheldon, Albany Chapter
President and several other representatives of that Chapter.
Twenty-three engineers attended the organizational meeting. During
the past nine years, the Chapter had drafted as its officers, men
from various fields of engineering.
The history of the Schenectady County Chapter
is peculiar to a highly industrialized community wherein large
numbers of engineers are employed in specialized scientific work.
The Chapter has drawn its small but consistent
membership
essentially from engineers in pubic employ, education, and private
practice, with a scattering from the two major industries of the
city. Approximately eight hundred engineers were engaged in
mechanical and electrical work in the General Electric Company and
American Locomotive Company. The major function of the Chapter was
to preach the gospel of licensing to these industrial engineers.
Consistent with its endeavors to promote a better understanding of
the aims and purposes of the Society, the Chapter participated in
the engineering activities sponsored by representatives of the ASME,
AIEE, and AWS.
Schenectady felt the impact of the depression
and experienced the industrial upswing of World War II defense
activities. This Chapter, small as it was, consistently maintained
its existence in the hope that it would serve as an important link
when its licensing educational program begins to bear fruit and
larger numbers of industrial engineers desire affiliation with the
organization mainly responsible for the advancement of the
professional status of the engineer.
The Extension Committee of the New York State
Society was established in 1949 to organize those counties in the
state that did not have any affiliation with the State Society. In
the next few years, Columbia County joined the Rensselaer County
Chapter, Greene County joined the Albany County Chapter and Fulton
and Montgomery Counties joined the Schenectady County Chapter.
As transportation improvements developed in the
region, engineers working in Albany moved further out into the
suburbs. Joint meetings of Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady County
Chapters were held, developing closer relations both socially and
professionally among the engineers of the Capital District.
Membership in the Rensselaer county Chapter remained small and in
the early 70's, the Chapter deemed it expedient to combine with the
Capital District Chapter, a recent name change from the Albany
County Chapter. In 1974 the two Chapters combined.
In the early '80's, the Otsego Chapter, located
west of the Capital District Chapter, was having organizational
problems and recommended to the State Society that they be disbanded
or absorbed. Of the three counties comprising the Otsego Chapter,
the Capital District Chapter agreed to absorb the Schoharie County
members into its Chapter. This occurred in 1985 when the Otsego
Chapter was officially disbanded.
The licensing educational program of the
Schenectady Chapter never developed a membership improvement among
the industrial engineers of GE and the Chapter remained quite small.
In the early 90's, Chapter activity ceased. In an effort to provide
Society services to those engineers who were still members, the
Capital District Chapter offered to absorb the Schenectady Chapter
members. On June 11, 1994, the NYSSPE approved the merger of the two
chapters, the name remaining as Capital District Chapter.