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- Scarsdale Inquirer, May 24, 1929
Wm. A. Bassett Died Suddenly Last Week
Was Scarsdale Supervisor and Member of Village Board During Residence Here
William Austen Bassett, Supervisor of the Town of Scarsdale from 1923 to 1926, and member of the village board from 1922 to 1926, died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 16.
Mr. Bassett, who was fifty one years old at the time of his death was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was graduated from Harvard in 1901 with the degree of S.B., worked for three years as rodman and transitman on the Pennsylvania Railroad, spent the next two years as assistant engineer in the Pittsburgh Bureau of Filtration, taught two years in the civil engineering department of the Carnegie Technical School in Pittsburgh, then moved to the East to spend one year as assistant engineer with the Boston Electric Railway Company on the design of reinforced concrete for the Cambridge subway, going back to Pennsylvania as an engineer in the Donora steel works.
ENGAGED in RESEARCH
In 191 he came to New York for two year as associate editor of the Engineering Record, and in April, 1913, took charge of the engineering division of the Bureau of Municipal Research. Here his extensive experience with varying forms of municipal and State engineering enterprises stood him in good stead, and when he became a member of the Scarsdale village board in 1922 he brought to the councils of the board an unusual acquaintance with problems connected with the development of the village in those early and critical days.
When President Stratton went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from the Bureau of Standards in Washington one of the first enterprises he set on foot was a Division of Municipal and Industrial Research, and to this as first chief he called Mr. Bassett in 1926.
CONDUCTED CITY SURVEYS
As Director of the Bureau, Mr. Bassett made important investigations and surveys of New England cities, of which perhaps the most important was that of Providence, but recently finished.
In connection with his work, Mr. Bassett visited Washington a few weeks ago, and there in the house of a friend he slipped and broke his leg just below the thigh. It was set successfully, and he reconciled himself to a siege of a month or two in a plaster cast in bed, maintaining his customary cheerful outlook on life and carrying on his usual contacts with friends. Death came suddenly and without warning on Thursday, May 16.
He married Grace Hackenburg Loring in Boston on March 30, 1905, and their son, John, graduated from the Scarsdale High School in 1932.
History of Westchester County Biographical
William A. Bassett was born in Boston, Massachusetts, September 29, 1876, the son of I. Austin and Annie M. (Tuson) Bassett, both members of New England families. His early education was received in the public schools of his birthplace and Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1901 with the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Civil Engineer. In his residence community of Scarsdale Mr. Bassett has served as trustee of the village of Scarsdale for two successive terms and in 1923 was elected supervisor of the town of Scarsdale for a term of two years. In the public service as well as in his private enterprises Mr. Bassett makes his influence felt along progressive lines. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the New York Harvard Club, and a number of other professional organizations.
William A. Bassett married, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1905, Grace Loring, daughter of George K. Loring, and they are the parents of one son, John Austin.The family reside at Sage Terrace, Scarsdale, New York.
Mary Annie Bassett and William Austin Bassett were twins.
1880 Federal Census of Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Elisebeth Walker - 59 - F - MA-MA-MA - Head - Keeping House
Chas E. - 26 - M - NY-MA-MA - Son - At Home
Marion S. - 34 - F - NY-MA-MA - Daughter - At home
Annie Fitz Garold - 32 - F - IR-IR-IR - Other - Servant
Austin Bassett - 37 - M - MA-MA-MA - Other - Bookkeeper
Annie M. - 37 - F - MA-EN-EN - Other - At Home
Mary A. - 3 - F - MA-MA-MA - Other - At Home
William A. - 3 - M - MA-MA-MA - Other - At Home
Eugune L. - 9- M - MA-MA-MA - Other - At School
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Bassett Family Association Database
1876 - 1929 (52 years)