Newsletter - Fall 2022
The last quarter was capped off by our fabulous Gala honoring Peter A. Grimm. We are also making progress toward final approval of our $500,000 New York State grant. In the meantime, we have completed several small projects, and we are developing a reorganization plan for our museum space and displays before reopening to the public in 2023. We successfully resumed our traditional fall Tiffany window tour. Finally, this issue has an article on the W. and L.E. Gurley Company, a firm that has been making precision instruments in Troy for more than 150 years.
Peter A. Grimm Honored at 2022 Gala
More than 100 Gateway members and friends gathered at The Country Club of Troy on the beautiful evening of September 22 to pay tribute to 2022 Gala Honoree Peter A. Grimm for his services to the Gateway over many years. We were pleased that Henry Burden descendant – and Gateway supporter – Ada Gates Patton was able to join us from California.
We have been very thankful for Peter’s support, which has enabled us to complete some critical interior renovation projects at the Burden Iron Works Museum as well as moving a historic local steam engine/dynamo to the museum grounds. These are only the latest examples of his generosity. He has been a generous donor over the years. For instance, in 1998 he underwrote and facilitated the move of our complete Corliss steam engine to the museum, and in 1999 he did the same for our largest bell.
Peter and his family were at the head table as Gateway President Fred Alm informed him that Congressman Paul Tonko and Troy Mayor Patrick Madden had sent resolutions honoring him. Fred presented Peter with a special framed copy of the Gala invitation.
Peter’s brother David, a former Gateway board member, shared some reminiscences about growing up with Peter, and mentioned specifically Peter’s fascination with Brockway trucks. This eventually led to the establishment of a museum in Cortland, N.Y., dedicated solely to the brand. (Peter is posing next to one of his Brockway trucks in the Gala invitation photo.)
Gala attendees were served an excellent buffet dinner and had the opportunity to bid on the usual eclectic items in our Silent Auction.
During the Gala a large computer screen displayed a slide show reviewing the Gateway’s accomplishments over the past year and also highlighted Peter’s contributions to the Gateway over the years. Click HERE to view the presentation.
We wish to thank Gala Committee Chair Lynn Momrow-Zielinsky and her committee, as well as volunteers Donna Done, Patricia Wright and Melissa Shufon.
Click on any image below to open full picture slide show.
Gateway Signs Contract for $500,000 State Grant
We continue to make progress on our $500,000 New York State Historic Preservation Office matching grant from 2017. The contracts and covenants have been signed and submitted to the relevant state authorities and we have begun discussions with architects and engineers regarding the projects outlined in the grant. Our long-time architect, Mesick Cohen Wilson Baker, is currently working on preliminary drawings and assessments intended to go out as requests for bids after approval from SHPO. We hope to be able to review and accept construction bids for most of the individual projects by early spring 2023.
Totally Reimagined Burden Iron Works Museum to Open in 2023
We are currently working on a redesign of the museum exhibit spaces. The reorientation of the museum entry from the main entrance facing the railroad tracks to the Paymaster’s entrance facing the parking lot will change the flow of the museum floor. Visitors will be introduced to the museum from a new vestibule leading into the main museum exhibit spaces. While some exhibits, such as the Corliss steam engine and the largest Meneely bell, won’t move from their original location, many of the other artifacts and exhibits will be rearranged into a new configuration. Most exciting is the opening of the space known among the volunteers as “the South alcove,” which will serve as a place for public lectures, temporary museum exhibits, and events to be held in the museum proper. As work continues to reshuffle and refine the exhibits, some of the lesser used spaces will be refitted to become part of the visitor experience. The rearranging of the current museum office spaces will eventually produce a document and book storage area contiguous to a central “reading room.” This space is intended for future interns and researchers who need access the museum’s documentary/artifact collections.
Tiffany Tour a Success; Tour Program for 2023 Still Pending
Nearly 40 fans of stained glass joined Gateway Executive Director Emeritus Michael Barrett September 17 for the renewal of our traditional fall tour of Tiffany stained glass windows in Troy. The group started at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in South Troy before heading to St. John’s Episcopal Church, Bush Memorial Hall on the Russell Sage College campus, the Troy Public Library and finally the magnificent St. Paul’s Episcopal Church with its entire interior provided by the Tiffany Studios. We intend to offer the “History of the Modern Horseshoe” tour, with its optional hike to the Burden waterwheel site, on November 5. Check our Facebook page and website for confirmation and details. The 2023 tour program is still under discussion.
Tiffany interior of St. Paul's Church
Tiffany window at St. Joseph's Church
Paymaster Steps Completed, Other Projects Move Ahead
Gary Nelson grouting one of the fireplaces at the Burden Iron Works Museum
Although we are not able to start any major renovation projects at the Burden Iron Works Museum pending final New York State approval of our $500,000 grant, we did finish one significant project using our own resources and a generous donation from Peter A. Grimm. While needed major repairs to the stairs at the museum’s main entrance await the approval of our grant, we have gone ahead and repaired the side, or Paymaster’s, entrance. This is where Burden Iron Co. employees went to receive their pay; they were not allowed into the main part of the building. Ganem Contracting Co. masons replaced the stone stair treads, rebuilt the cheek walls, reset the stone caps and built a new slate sidewalk. Gateway volunteers repaired the door, painted the trim and installed a restored period light fixture.
The restored Paymaster steps
Work is finishing up on the apartment in the museum loft, but we will probably not be able to welcome a new tenant until the museum floor reorganization is completed.
Another project that was completed was the installation of a natural gas pipeline to the museum and the removal of the large propane tank that “temporarily” provided heating fuel since the Gateway transitioned from oil heat a number of years ago. Conversion of the boiler to piped natural gas was recently completed, and we look forward to staying warm and saving money this winter.
We wish to thank Gateway volunteers Fred Alm, Allen Cluett, Bruce King, Steve Muller, Gary Nelson, Emile Ouellette, and Brian Sichel for helping with recent projects.
The W. and L.E. Gurley Company
W.L.E. Gurley: The beginning of a long partnership
William Gurley and his younger brother Lewis E. Gurley founded the W. and L.E. Gurley Company in Troy, N.Y., in 1852. At that time the company specialized in manufacturing and supplying precision instruments for civil engineers and surveyors. The company continues today as Gurley Precision Instruments, and still operates in the building it constructed in 1862 at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fulton Street in Troy.
The W. and L.E. Gurley Company evolved from several similar earlier businesses. These include firms started by Jonas H. Phelps and Benjamin, Julius and Oscar Hanks. Lewis E. Gurley was once apprenticed to Phelps, while William was a foreman with Hanks. William graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy in 1839 and Lewis was an 1851 graduate of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Phelps started his own firm in 1838. In 1845 he partnered with William Gurley as Phelps & Gurley. Lewis joined this firm in 1851, and both brothers became partners with Phelps in the firm Phelps & Gurleys. In 1852 they took over the business, then operating at 319 River Street, and launched the W. and L.E. Gurley Company.
Newspaper ad announcing the partnership between Jonas Phelps and William Gurley
They briefly continued at River Street (this building was demolished in 1973 during Troy’s “urban renewal” phase). The site of the present W. & L.E. Gurley factory was established in 1852 when the Gurleys bought the Oscar Hanks property at the corner of Fifth and Fulton and moved from River Street. This building was lost in the great Troy fire of 1862. The present building was constructed in less than a year. (A later addition to the east across the alley was demolished for a parking lot.) Originally the ground floor held retail establishments, and they rented out the third and fourth floors to other manufacturers. The company soon expanded to take up the entire building. The handsome structure is U-shaped around a courtyard, allowing natural light into the factory spaces on all sides. A foundry was once located on the ground level on the north side.
View of west facade of 1862 Gurley building (Gary Nelson)
The firm continued to manufacture surveyor’s compasses, theodolites, transits, leveling instruments, goniometers, air pumps, electrical machines and “apparatus to illustrate the principles of natural philosophy.” The company was a leader not only in technology, but also in management. It operated by departments, with each department producing different specialized components, which were then assembled into the final product. Most of the other instrument companies of the day did not work that way; a single skilled workman produced each individual instrument by himself, which took much longer and cost more. Gurley was able to produce high quality instruments but charged only half as much as their competition.
The Gurley enterprise was fortunate to have the life-long services of Edward Arms, who was a mechanical genius and eventually became the company’s chief engineer. He was hired in 1862 and worked there until 1934 – a remarkable 72-year span. In this unprecedented length of time, Arms dedicated himself to the improvement of surveying instruments and their manufacture, and he also managed to graduate from RPI in 1869. Arms was particularly interested in the refinement of the circular dividing engine (the Burden Iron Works Museum has one of his dividing engines in our collection).
1973 view showing bridge between rear of 1862 building and building across Union St. (since demolished)(GsryNelson)
Over time Gurley diversified into making thermometers and other testing equipment. They contributed precision instruments for both World Wars and began manufacturing gyroscopes, sextants, star trackers and precision guidance equipment for guided missiles and space exploration during the Cold War and beyond. Today, it is best known for optical encoders, which are used to measure and control speed for medical instrumentation, electronics, robotics and more. It is also a leader in hydrological instruments, paper testing instruments and precision optographic instruments. The precision of their products has led to two standard units of measure called “Gurley units.”
Gurley remained a family-operated business until the First World War, when professional managers were brought in. The company was acquired by Teledyne Corporation in 1968. Teledyne sold the company to local investors in 1993 and it is now known as Gurley Precision Instruments, Inc. It is still located on the ground floor of the Gurley Building in Troy, and also operates in the building across Fulton Street. The rest of the 1862 building holds RPI’s Lighting Research Center and other school offices and labs.
This article was written by Suzanne Spellen and Gary Nelson, and edited by Steve Muller