Schenectady's General Electric Realty Plot

by Chris Leonard

Overview

Schenectady's General Electric Realty Plot was formed in 1899 when the General Electric (GE) Company purchased 70 acres of land from prestigious Union College.

This move provided unique housing opportunities for its executives and scientists and attracted brilliant minds from around the world to work for GE. The original 178 homes were designed by leading architects from as far away as Boston, New York City, and Chicago. The neighborhood, colloquially known as "The Plot," would also become home to political and religious leaders, businesspeople, and entertainment elite. Inhabited by luminaries such as Charles Proteus Steinmetz, 1932 Nobel Prize winner Irving Langmuir, Ernst Alexanderson, and William D. Coolidge, the GE Realty Plot was also home to many important historic firsts, including the first demonstration of radar in the United States and the first reception of a television signal in a house.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467103176
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	04/29/2019
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,103,884
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Chris Leonard, city historian of Schenectady and historian of the GE Realty Plot, has selected images from the archives of the Schenectady Historical Society, MiSci, Union College, and the Efner History Center and from the collections of GE Realty Plot neighbors to trace the story of the Plot from its beginnings to the desperate efforts to save these homes in the 1970s.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 Before the GE Realty Plot 11

2 Formation of the GE Realty Plot 19

3 Charles R Steinmetz, the Wizard of Schenectady 25

4 General Electric Luminaries 35

5 The House of Tomorrow, Today! … in 1905 69

6 It Was Not all GE in the GE Realty Plot 77

7 The 1920s and Beyond 105

8 Schools, Churches, and Businesses 115

9 Saving the GE Realty Plot 121