A history lesson: engineering in Alaska has come a long way.

• Author: Nyman, Frank
• Position: Engineering history celebrations

Engineering history establishes that it is the second-oldest professional association. The association, formed in 1848, was called the Boston Society of Engineers. The name was later changed to the American Society of Engineers and then to American Society of Civil Engineers. By comparison, the American Medical Association was formed in 1847 and the American Bar Association in 1878. The father of our country, George Washington, was an engineer and his birthday, Feb. 22, was considered both a national holiday and a day for engineers to celebrate their profession. In 1971, legislation was passed to combine the holiday with others, calling the new holiday Presidents Day, celebrated on the third Tuesday in February. Engineers have continued to celebrate Washington's birthday and Engineers Week during the week of Feb. 22.

ENGINEERING HISTORY IN ALASKA

This article traces the growth of Anchorage from a frontier community, with a population of about 20,000 in 1950, to a metropolitan city of about 260,000 today. In the course of preparing this article, I have been researching the newspaper records from 1951 through 2003 and have been compiling a list of engineers nominated as "Engineer of the Year" and others who were active in organizing the celebration of Engineers Week. That list is available, when completed, by contacting me at 272-1894.

My first recollection of the celebration of Engineers Week took place Feb. 15, 1951, at the "Idle Hour," a very fine nightclub located on Spenard Lake. On this date, Anton Anderson was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the groundwork was set for yearly nominations for what came to be known as "Engineer of the Year."

Anton is well known in Alaska's history for his engineering of the Whittier tunnel and many other railroad projects. He also served a term as mayor of the city of Anchorage. As mayor, Anton ably represented the city but never had faith in the survival of Anchorage as a city, having seen many other Alaska towns-such as Knik, Iditarod, Susitna Station and many others-pass through the "boom-to-bust" evolution. Anton, like many other early pioneers, could quote Robert Service cover-to-cover. My theory is that without the distraction of television and other instant communication venues, a great amount of free time existed and proved to be an excellent environment for quiet study, especially at isolated camps and work locations.

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