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RES History - November - December 1975
RES News - Rochester History Back to Table of Contents
A Sampling from the Archives of the Rochester Engineering Society. 1897 - 1975 by Lee M. Loomis
Continuing with the historical sampling of the earlier writings on behalf of the Rochester Engineering Society, the years following "The Great War", into and through the “Great Depression”, continued to be a time of reaching out for the maturing Society, both locally and nationally. The meeting minutes describe a series of technical discussions and presentations intended to broaden the technical horizons of the membership (especially the CE's, ME's and EE's). The RES affiliated itself with a number of National technical societies, adopted local Affiliated Societies, frequently held joint meetings with them and continued taking action on a growing list of public matters. Certain issues of standardization, some crucial to public safety, became the responsibility of the RES and its affiliates. In the pervasive economic downturn of the “Great Depression”, the magazine offered classified advertising for unemployed engineers, technicians and draftsmen and took other steps to try to deal with the crisis. Still, it continued its effort to shape the function, focus and infrastructure of the City of Rochester, and beyond. World War, again affected the Society, taking away many of its leaders while providing opportunities for others to step forward to fill these vacancies. In an effort to provide even greater perspective on the happenings and concerns of the day, a synopsis, featuring selected items from "The Rochester Engineer" has become an integral part of this series. The Second World War, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War are now history. These experiences have changed the face of and will, no doubt, influence the future of the community. The Rochester municipal leadership and the industrial community have become immersed in the cold-war, growth economy.
“How to Make A City Park: Rochester’s Manhattan Square Park” is an article in this issue. Written by RES Member, Richard E. Rice, Director of
Operations for Midtown Holdings and Chair of the Southeast Loop Citizens Advisory
Committee, the article describes the history of the Southeast Loop (bounded by Court Street, South Union Street, Monroe Avenue and Chestnut Street) from its 1820’s inception, through and into the Urban Renewal Programs of the late 1940’s. It still took another fifteen years before the City Council would decide to proceed with a project intended to attract middle and upper income people to take up residence close to the Central Business District. The Park occupies five acres at the corner of Court and Chestnut Streets, close to the sixty-acre Southeast Loop housing project, and its anticipated 7,500 future residents, along with downtown office workers, shoppers, visitors and tourists. The Park would also have an acre of gardens, a massive one-acre waterfall, a fountain cascading 25 feet, from above street level to a plaza some 20 feet below. Over the top of the plaza would be a 100’ by 100’ galvanized “space frame”, rising 50’ above street level. Additional features would include a 20’ wide x 100’ long, tunnel under Chestnut Street leading to office, commercial and parking facilities south of the Xerox Tower. Additional features would include a half-acre game area (basketball, handball, etc.) and 12,000 sq.ft. set aside for a children’s play area. An additional 1 ½ acres would include an open meadow for football, soccer, kite-flying and sledding, all surrounded by tree-lined promenades with ample lighting and restrooms. At this juncture (1975), Manhattan Square Park would become the only downtown multi-use park in the US. Its versatility would be ensured by portable stage assemblies, a state-of-the-art sound system, a 20,000GPM fountain and, eventually a full-service
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restaurant. This issue of The Rochester Engineer provided a full-page ad entitled, “At Least Three Reasons Why You Should Join the Rochester Engineering Society”. These reasons included…
1. We’ll help make you a Star, citing the notoriety attained by RES Past President, Dr. Richard Kenyon as leader of “Operation RESOURCE”, a solid waste study that will lead to a first-of-its-kind solid waste recycling facility for Rochester and Monroe County. Further examples included John
Hoff, Majority Leader of the Monroe County Legislature (Rochester’s 1974 Engineer of the
Year), and Richard Rice, leader of an RES effort to modernize the City’s noise ordinance, as well as the Chair of the Southeast Loop Citizens
Advisory Committee.
2. You’ll be able to “Hob Nob” with business
and political Big Shots”, via a regular association with the RES’ impressive list of participating members.
3. You’ll be the first on your block to find out about new scientific or technical matters, via the RES’ monthly luncheon series, participation on one of the RES’ Watch Dog committees, and stimulating articles in The Rochester Engineer.
The 1975-76 Membership Grades/Fees included: Regular Member ($30), Associate Member ($30), Junior Member ($7), Student Member ($1), Sustaining Member ($50+), Participating Company ($100), Non-Resident Member ($12) and Affiliated Society ($30).
December 17, 1975 (Board Meeting,
Chamber of Commerce) The Board approved one Regular Membership application, one Associate Membership, three Junior Memberships and one Student Membership. President Schickler announced that the cost for producing The
res news - history Rochester Engineer had been successfully lowered to $.50/copy, and that an expanded subscription campaign would be starting soon. Publications Committee Representative, Andrew Hirsch, provided copies of solicitation letters for magazine advertising and RES membership subscriptions, which were subsequently approved for use in increasing magazine revenue. Engineers Joint Dinner Chair, Lee Loomis, announced that Senator James Buckley, Congressman Barber Conable and County Executive Lucien Morin had all agreed to be speakers at the February 26, 1976, Engineers Joint Dinner. Dr. Kenyon announced that the National Science Foundation had agreed to provide (not yet determined) funding to support the recently created position of “Technology Advisor” to City Manager, Elisha Freedman. RES Director, John Robertson announced that Lucien Morin, T. F. Dunn, Facilities Chief at Monroe County Airport’s Traffic Control and Prof. Moshe Lubin of the U of R’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics would each be speaking at the next three RES Luncheons. Jack Schickler announced that RES Director had been appointed to the Executive Committee.
Subsequent articles in this series will describe the RES' continuing outreach to other technical societies as it considered its role in this and the larger community, along with more of the activities of the RES as it moved to be of greater service to its membership, especially those suffering from current economic crises, and adopted a greater role in shaping the future of the City of Rochester and its environs. Noted also, will be the contributions made by RES members in the struggle to meet the challenges coming out of World War II and the Korean Conflict, as well as a hoped-for period of post-war growth and prosperity. These articles will also feature an impressive array of RES activities in support of post-war reemergence of Rochester area industry, and the continuing prosperity of the second half of the 20th Century.
We welcome your questions and comments on this series.
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