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| About Us | History |
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In 1785 New York was in a slump. Business was nearly at a standstill. British troops had evacuated only two years earlier and much of the city still bore the scars of war and occupation. A terrible fire had also done much damage.
The city had only 23,000 inhabitants, and they could expect little help from their government. The Constitution was not to be adopted for another four years, and federal, state, and city treasuries were all empty. (The city of New York ended its first 18 months as a government - $1,847.50 in debt).
The U.S. government had not yet begun to mint a national currency, and all business was still conducted in a confusing mix of foreign coins.
In New York, unemployment was high and the almshouse was full, as was the debtors' prison. Such was the state of things on the evening of November 17, 1785, when 22 tradesmen gathered at Walter Heyer's Tavern on Pine Street near Broadway, to form a society for mutual help and cooperation.
The group represented various trades; among them were a blacksmith, a silversmith, a sailmaker, a potter, a shoe scrimper, and a bell hanger. The aims of this new organization were threefold: To provide mutual help in sickness and distress, to aid the widows and orphans of fellow members who died propertyless, and to "encourage the mechanic interests of the city."
Thus, the General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen was born. The next year the little group officially adopted the name by which the Society is still known, and was delighted to see the membership double. An iron chest was purchased to hold the group's funds.
During the next few years, the Society devoted much of its attention to issues of tariff and free trade, joining together with the Manufacturers' Society of New York to encourage the enactment of duties which would slow the importation of foreign made goods.
The city of New York and the Society both benefited from the decision to make New York the seat of the Federal Government. In 1789, legislators and their assistants and families began to pour into the city. Business prospects brightened considerably.
In 1792, the Society attained a membership of 413, and received a charter of incorporation. Old documents reveal that the Society was quite active in the last years of the 18th century, corresponding with other business related associations, and petitioning the state legislature in the interests of industrial progress.
The City Hall Building was constructed in 1802. Records show that the Architect, the Master Stonecutter, the two Master Masons, the Master Carpenter, and the Clerk of the project were all active Society members.
As an organization, The General Society now had assets of $7,000 and purchased a lot on the corner of Broadway and Park Place to erect its own building. In 1803, The Mechanics Hall, a four story building, was dedicated.
In 1820, the Society launched a new venture. In New York at that time there was no public school system. Only two free schools were to be found in the whole city - one in the almshouse, and the other open only to the children of freed slaves. Thus the Society saw a need for a school for the children of its members, and established the Mechanics Institute School. It opened with 70 students. Children of members were admitted free of charge, and a small fee was required from all others.
Later that same year the Society added a separate school for girls, and the Apprentices' Library.
The establishment of the Apprentices' Library in 1820 put the Society well in the forefront of social reform. Later in the century there would be a great boom in libraries, and much thought would be directed toward public education, but in 1820 such ideas were still new, and the Apprentices' Library was one of the first public libraries in the city of New York.
Its aim was to provide good and instructive reading for apprentice boys who worked all day, and had no other access to books and therefore kept evening hours.
The mayor of New York, and other city officials attended the opening of the library. That first night the library was jammed with apprentice boys who checked out over 300 volumes before closing time.
The next year the Society launched another innovative project with a series of free lectures for its members. The lectures continued for 65 years until 1898. Speakers included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Greeley, Wendell Phillips, and Rear - Admiral Robert E. Peary.
Individual Society members must have been prospering during these years, too. It was during the 1830's that the French observer Chevalier made this comment about the American mechanic and tradesmen: "He dresses like a member of Congress, and his women-folk dress the same as those of a wealthy New York merchant. His house is warm, neat, and comfortable; his table almost as plentifully provided as that of the wealthiest fellow-citizen."
During the 1840's the Society also provided college scholarships. It was decided that each year two students from Mechanics Institute would attend the University of the City of New York, free of charge. In addition, the society paid to send certain students to other schools.
The library continued to be well patronized during these years, and in 1845, Benjamin DeMilt bequeathed his entire personal library to the Society, adding 1,800 volumes to the collection.
1858 was a year for re-examining and re-organizing. The nation as a whole was in the grips of a severe economic depression. Individual Society members, in addition to feeling the economic pressures of the day, became aware that the concept of Mechanics Institute needed rethinking. The school had fallen on hard times. Low enrollment was making it difficult to justify the need for such a school. A report of the school committee in that year stated: "The Mechanics School is no longer a necessity; it has fulfilled its mission, its work is done."
However, some Society members saw clearly that the school could be turned toward a new purpose. Society President, Ira Hutchinson said in his 1858 inaugural address:
"As a nation, we are passing through a commercial and financial crisis unprecedented in its
magnitude and most destructive in its consequences… The only salvation for this republic is in
the education and the elevation of the laborer. Bring around to the young industrial classes the
light of science, and a greater knowledge of themselves as physical, intellectual, and immortal
beings, and their relation to nature and to god, and we shall be saved….
There is no class of man, nor any association, so abundantly qualified in means and abilities as
the Mechanics and Tradesmen's Society of the City of New York; and there is no class of man
among the inquirers into the principles of nature that the world can look to with more
assurance for usefulness than to the true mechanic; and to no class among the rising
generation could our efforts be more advanced accomplishment of this great work."
So it was that the Society turned the Mechanics Institute into a night school for laborers who worked by day. Technical courses were offered, including free-hand drawing, architectural drawing, and machine drawing.
The Society continued in its role as a pioneer in social reform by maintaining separate courses for women. In 1887, these classes for young women included stenography and typewriting - a very innovative idea at a time when few women were integrated into the office work force.
In 1861, when the Civil War broke out, the Society placed itself firmly behind the government of Abraham Lincoln. About $8,000 in government bonds were purchased and many Society members enlisted in the Volunteer Engineer Regiment.
In 1885, the Society celebrated a landmark 100th birthday. A banquet was held at Delmonico's and it was well attended both by Society members and by public officials. The Society's growth continued, and in 1899 the organization moved to the current home at 20 West 44th Street.
Between 1898 and 1903, Andrew Carnegie, a Society member, contributed over half a million dollars to the Society. Generous gifts came in from other members as well, and by 1913 attendance at Mechanics Institute had reached 2,300. The curriculum now included such "mechanical age" courses as automobile drafting and industrial electricity.
Once the United States entered World War I in 1917, the Society adopted the following resolution:
Whereas, the General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen was an important factor in the
upbuilding of the American Nation after the Revolutionary War….
Resolved: That we reaffirm the declaration of January 6, 1789, "May we live and our enemies
know it," and pledge to the President of the United States our earnest and full support in this
hour of national peril.
At the request of the government, special classes were offered in radio operation and mechanical drafting for enlisted men.
Mechanics Institute also supported the effort during WW II. Special courses were provided for workers from the industrial plants producing munitions of war.
Since World War II, the Society has received a number of bequests from various estates, making possible repairs and improvements at the 44th Street building, and helping to fund the on-going courses at Mechanics Institute.
Now, as the Society is well into its third century, it faces a series of new challenges. Perhaps the most important of these is the need to respond to change. The new millennium offers abundant opportunities to continue to serve the City of New York. We welcome your support.
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