Nearby Schenectady County will celebrate one of Central Bridge’s best-know sons and a world-famous inventor today when it installs a pedestal for a statue that will honor George Westinghouse in 5pm ceremonies at Erie Boulevard and South Ferry Street.
The event commemorates the 176th birthday of Westinghouse, who spent the first 10 years of his life in Central Bridge and many of his formative years in Schenectady.
A small program will include speakers Mayor Gary McCarthy, Ray Gillen and a surprise guest, a George Westinghouse reenactor.
Music will be provided by Musicians of Ma'alwyck.
The statue will be located across from the Thomas Edison and Charles Steinmetz statues in downtown Schenectady.
Phase 1 is the installation of the pedestal and plaques, done by Adam Ross Cut Stone; Phase 2 is the life-size bronze statue of Westinghouse by sculptor Dexter Benedict with an unveiling planned in the spring.
Rosemary Christoff Dolan of Central Bridge, author of “George Westinghouse: A Pattern of Humanity,” published in the Schoharie County Historical Review, Fall 2004, shared the following background on Westinghouse’s life:
George Westinghouse, Jr. was born in Old Central Bridge in Schoharie County on October 6, 1846, the eighth of 10 children.
His father, George Westinghouse, Sr. invented the first wheat threshing machine and established a plant near Route 7 in Central Bridge to manufacture threshing machines and agricultural implements.
As a boy, George Junior liked to tinker with bits of machinery and by the age of seven was already experimenting with making motors and machines.
It was said that George loved to frolic in the hills and fields and streams of the Schoharie Valley and was sad to be leaving when the family relocated.
When George was 10, they moved to Schenectady where his father set up an agricultural machinery manufacturing plant.
The factory was called G. Westinghouse & Co. and was located where the General Electric complex was later built.
It was at his father's shop that young George worked on his own inventions and received his first patent for the rotary steam engine in 1865.
He received his patent for the air brake in 1869 while still a resident of Schenectady.
Acclaimed in his time as the “greatest living engineer,” his pioneering work with railroads and electric power revolutionized these two industries.
He received 360 patents and founded some 60 companies, including the Westinghouse Air Brake Company and Westinghouse Electric.
He and Thomas Edison were contemporaries and the two legendary inventors were known for their rivalry.
Edison was a proponent of direct current (DC), but it was Westinghouse who won the “War of the Currents.”
Westinghouse acquired patents from Nikola Tesla and devised a way to distribute electricity over long distances using alternating current (AC).
It is the Westinghouse AC current that lights and powers our world today.
At his peak, Westinghouse was considered to be the largest private employers in industrial history with 50,000 to 100,000 employees from coast to coast, In stark contrast to most employers of the day, Westinghouse was known for his kindness and fairness.
He was recognized and respected worldwide for his honesty and integrity.
In the front yard of his birthplace in Central Bridge where the legacy began, there is a monument bearing Westinghouse’s own words:
“If someday they say of me that in my work I have contributed something to the welfare and happiness of my fellow men, I shall be satisfied.”
The “George Westinghouse, Jr. Birthplace and Boyhood Home” was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.