Chattanooga Engineers Club

Club HISTORY

The first general meeting of the Chattanooga Engineers Club was held on March 24, 1924 at Chattanooga's Park Hotel. Among its order of business was the approval of its recently drafted Constitution and By-Laws. O. J. Miller, Hydraulic Engineer of the Tennessee Electric Power Company is credited with being the architect and the driving force behind this nascent group of 18 members. In that first year membership grew to 70 and the second it grew to 97. By 1996 the count had reached 320 members.

From the beginning, its goal has been for members to learn about current developments and trends in science and technology and to encourage the exchange of knowledge and idea among friends and fellow engineers. Today, the Chattanooga Engineers Club ranks as one of the oldest technical societies in the United States that holds presentation meetings on a weekly basis. According to Robert J. Bradshaw, the Club's Historian Emeritus, there have been few times throughout these years that the Club has not held a meeting on Monday of each week. In the early years during the summer months visits were made to various industrial plants in lieu of the regular meeting. This practice continued on an occasional basis in later years. In 1958, visits to industrial plants in distant cities were incorporated with football game excursions. Trips to Knoxville, Atlanta and Birmingham were made. Enthusiastic groups of up to 100 participated in 1925. Copies of some of the activity reports for 1925 to 1940 are on file. The weekly Bulletin was begun November 1948 to announce coming programs and report activities of the Club and the Members.

The Engineering Scholarship Fund was established in April 1972 with donations to the fund made by Engineers Club members throughout the years. This fund currently supports scholarships to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Chattanooga State Community College. Occasionally additional scholarships are awarded as funds become available. It is apparent that since the death of Robert Bradshaw in 1972 a lot remains to be done to bring the history of the Engineers Club up to date. But it is hoped that this brief overview would encourage some of the current Club member to pick up the banner and shed further light into this interesting society.

Here's a link to a Times Free Press article about our Engineers Club history entitled "How early engineers shaped Chattanooga". The article was written Jim Frierson, our 2010 Philip Sutton People to People award recipient. It appeared in the Times Free Press local history section to help kick off our 2014 E-week events.

2017 UPDATE

The Chattanooga Engineers Club was first established to promote the exchange of ideas and to learn about current developments and trends in science engineering and technology. In addition, the Club has participated in projects of interest to the public that require engineering/technical expertise. It has encouraged K-12 students to gain a better understanding of technology and to consider a career in a technical field. It has supported community and state efforts to improve the education system so that students get a better exposure and understanding of the world around them and that they are able see how science, math, engineering and technology can play a vital role in making the world a better place.

Through 2016 the Engineers Club met nearly every Monday from noon till 1:00 p.m. in a downtown location. Here speakers presented various topics related to engineering, science and technology as well as subjects in education, medicine, politics, community issues and other topics of general interest to the members. When a meeting date fell on the fifth Monday of the month the club held an area field trip to a processing or manufacturing plant or to any other site that the club members found interesting. You can get an idea of the meetings that have been held in the past by clicking here: Previous Meetings

During 2017 the Club began changing to the second & fourth Monday schedule as shown on our Home page.



And here is a list of all the presidents that have served the organization since its founding:

1924 O. J. Miller

1925 D. Hewitt Wood

1926 Harold C. Fiske

1927 Al F. Porzelius

1928 G. L. Davidson

1929 Emerson P. Poste

1930 J. W. Edwards

1931 H. H. Bailey

1932 W.G. Wilson

1933 L. G. Haller

1934 P. H. Wood

1935 William H. Sears

1936 Andrew J. Kelly

1937 W. Jess Brown

1938 C. E. McCashin

1939 Buford H. Martin

1940 Frank J. Stevens

1941 Richard B. Baston

1942 Edwin Harsh

1943 W. O. McCord, Jr.

1944 James M. Alexander

1945 Robert M. Farell

1946 Walter G. Davies, Sr.

1947 William O. Swan

1948 Rodney B. Rougelot

1949 A. R. McLain

1950 Edgar A. Rogers

1951 James F. Steffener

1952 John R. Kruse

1953 Charles P. Parsons

1954 John T. Maroney , Jr.

1955 L. F. Pohl

1956 Norbert Koch

1957 Robert V. Curtis

1958 Richard L. Culpepper

1959 Iley M. Barnes, Jr.

1960 Perry V. Lane

1961 Robert J. Bradshaw, Jr

1962 Paul H. Shoun

1963 Paul E. George

1964 Myron S. McCay

1965 Rufus G. Obrecht

1966 Paul H. Merriman

1967 James M. Anderson

1968 Roy E. McCollum

1969 Donald J. Mills

1970 Manville J. Mayfield

1971 George A. Rutledge

1972 H. Glenn Blocker

1973 Lawrence A. Hoenig

1974 Jack W. Anderson

1975 Lynn D. Russell

1976 J. Hampton Barnett

1977 J. William Brooks III

1978 Fred W. Lupton II

1979 T. Warren Newberry

1980 Ronald B. Cox

1981 Almeda M. Frazier

1982 James C. Stites

1983 Kenneth B. Garner

1984 Billy H. Pryor

1985 Charles T. Fox

1986 William Q. Gurley

1987 Thomas L. Lyons

1988 John M. Higgins

1989 William J. Hobbs

1990 Robert C. Tulis

1991 James R. Cunningham

1992 Jay E. Floyd

1993 Walter G. Davies, Jr.

1994 Ron A. Burton

1995 Ronald N. Fugatt

1996 Terry D. Reynolds

1997 Douglas L. Jacobs

1998 Jack A. Wagner

1999 Gregory A. Sedrick

2000 Ed Chapin

2001 Lulu Copeland

2002 Uwe Zitzow

2003 Steve McGuire

2004 Brad Baucom

2005 Tiffany Gibby

2006 Judy Driggans

2007 Stephen Smith

2008 Ron Bailey

2009 Jim Schwall

2010 Joe Robbins

2011 Ralph Boroughs

2012 Rebecca Balch

2013 Jerry McClanahan

2014 Tim Lee

2015 Harry Hawkins

2016 Stephen Stark

2017 Paul Snyder

2018 Julie Alcantara

2019 Al Curtis

2020 Grady Stout

2021 Steve Poteet

2022 Gabe Kurtz

2023 George Aslinger


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