| Notes |
- Edward grew up in Watertown, New York, where the family moved when he
was seven. He graduated from the Watertown high school and entered Hamilton
College in Clinton, New York, on a scholarship, but transferred for his senior
year to Amherst, from which he received the A.B. degree in 1884. While
teaching at a private school in Brooklyn, he attended afternoon and evening
classes at Columbia Law School and earned an L.L.B. degree in 1886. He then
joined his brother in a contracting firm to build waterworks in upstate New
York cities, with headquarters in Buffalo. His business prospered, but in 1892
he returned to Brooklyn and began a law practice. Ten years later he formed
the firm of Bassett and Thompson (later Bassett, Thompson and Gilpatric), with
which he was to be associated for four decades. Long interested in civic and
political affairs, he joined the local Democratic organization and was elected
to the Kings County Democratic Committee, on which he served until 1907. He
was elected to Congress in 1902, but did not seek reelection.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Edward Murray Bassett (1863-1948)
Bassett, Edward Murray, a Representative from New York; born in Brookly
N.Y., February 7, 1863; attended the public schools in Brooklyn and Watertown,
N.Y., and Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., in 1881 and 1882; was graduated
from Amherst (Mass.) College in 1884 and from Columbia Law School, New York
City, in 1886; was admitted to the New York State bar in 1886 and commenced
practice in Buffalo, N.Y., moved to New York City in 1892 and continued the
practice of law; member of the Brooklyn School Board 1899-1903; elected as a
Democrat to the Fifty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1903-Marc 3, 1905); declined
to be a candidate for renomination in 1904; resumed the practice of law;
member of the New York Public Service Commission 1907-1911; chairman of the
Heights of Buildings Commission 1913-195; chairman of the Zoning Commission in
1916 and 1917; appointed by Secretary Hoover in 1922 as a member of the
Department of Commerce, Advisory Committee on Zoning; writer on bankruptcy,
eminent domain, and police power; died in Brooklyn, N.Y., October 27, 1948;
interment in Ashfield Plains Cemetery, Ashfield, Mass.
The New York Times, Thursday,
Edward Bassett, Father of Zoning (picture included)
Lawyer Who Led Movement for Ordinance Here in 1916 Dies - Ex-Congressman
Edward Murray Bassett, a lawyer known as the "Father" of Americ
zoning, former Congressman and Public Service Commissioner, died yesterday in
his home at 1716 Newkirk Avenue, Brooklyn, after a brief illness. His age was 85.
Mr. Bassett was the chief author of and prime mover in bringing into
being the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in the United States regulating
the use, height and area of buildings. That ordinance, which became a model
for the rest of the country, was adopted by the New York Board of Estimate in
1916.
Over many years he and associates fought a continuing battle which
made the Manhattan skyline, with its attractive towers and setbacks, a thing
of beauty instead of the horror it might have been if unregulated. He wrote
numerous zoning ordinances for other municipalities and successfully labored
for more than thirty years, in legislatures, courts and public debate, for an
orderly development of zoning throughout the land.
Born in Brooklyn, a son of Charles R. and Mrs. Elvira Rogers Bassett,
Mr. Bassett received an A.B. Degree from Amherst College in 1884 and taught
school in Brooklyn while attending Columbia University Law School, from which
he was graduated in 1886. He had practiced law here since 1892. He was a
member of the law firm of Bassett, Thompson & Gilpatric here from 19
1942, and, with his son, Howard M. Bassett of Rockville Centre, L.I., a member
of Bassett & Bassett, 233 Broadway, from 1942 until his deat
Mr. Bassett was a member of Congress from Brooklyn in 1903-1905. He
was a member of the Kings County Democratic General Committee for three years.
By appointment of the late Charles E. Hughes, then Governor of New York, he
became a member of the Public Service Commission in 1907, serving until 1911.
The lack of regulation of buildings led to the formation of a City
Height of Building Commission in 1913, with Mr. Bassett as chairma
In 1916, as chairman of the City Commission on Building Districts and
Restrictions, he submitted to the Board of Estimate what became the city's
first zoning ordinance, made law last year. From 1916 to 1946 Mr. Bassett was
counsel to the Zoning Committee of New York. Later he served as counsel to the
New York Zoning commission, the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs and
the old City Planning Commission. He also had been a member of the Advisory
Committee on City Planning and Zoning appointed by Herbert Hoover, then
Secretary of Commerce, and president of the National Conference on City
Planning.
In 1943 leaders in the architectural and community planning fields
called Mr. Bassett the "father of zoning and the best-known authority on this
subject in America" when they presented to him their Medal of Honor for City
Planning, which had been awarded only twice before, in 1939 to George McAneny
and in 192? to John D. Rockefeller.
Besides his son, he leaves another son, Preston R. Bassett of
Rockville Centre; three daughters, Mrs. Marion B. Luitweiler of New York, Mrs.
Isabel B. Wasson of River Forest, Ill, and Mrs. Helen Hauser of Short Hills,
N.J.; and brother, George Bassett of Buffalo; a sister, Mrs. Mary Harrington
of Buffalo; fifteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildre
A funeral service will be held at ? P.M. tomorrow at the Flatbush-
Tompkins Church, Brooklyn. Burial will be in Ashfield, Mass.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1863 - Deceased