In the summer of 1919, Hart Vance, Otto H. Lang, S.E. Gillespie, S.D. Bacon, E.M. Noyes, and O.H. Koch took stock of Dallas. World War I was ending and the city was bustling. Business and industry were growing at a steady rate. These men felt that a city as prominent as Dallas needed an organization that brought together the various fields of engineering. An organization of this sort, they thought, could not only encourage social engagement but could also be a pivotal resource for the city. The six men each decided to survey a different branch of technical work to gauge interest in a technical club in Dallas. They invited all Dallas-area engineers to a dinner to discuss the group. On June 10, 1919 the response was encouraging. 77 men attended the dinner meeting and motioned that a committee be formed to draft a constitution and create a name. A few weeks later, on July 2, 1919, the Technical Club of Dallas was born.
It soon became obvious that the Technical Club of Dallas was indeed needed. The engineers of the club helped city officials in planning for city growth. The club supported the Kessler Plan—a plan that tried to solve the flooding of the Trinity River and many other dangers caused by the haphazard, and at times nonexistent, city planning of early Dallas. In 1923, O.H. Koch and the Technical Club organized a committee on water conservation and flood control. Another committee composed of club membership was formed in 1925 to aid in city planning through zoning. And again, in the late 1920s the organization helped the city by researching an appropriate site for Lake Dallas. The creation of the lake gave Dallas an adequate water supply for the future. Later in the century the club aided Dallas County in highway planning with in depth research and reports.
The Technical Club of Dallas’ activities did not end at professional consultation. The group also supported technical education in the area. In 1925, the Technical Club of Dallas helped establish an engineering school on a cooperative plan with Southern Methodist University. The members raised funds, taught courses, trained students, and hired students in their firms. In 1932, the club continued its support of area education by sponsoring the Student Engineering Society at North Texas Agricultural College (which would later become University of Texas at Arlington). This early dedication to education continued and in 1991 the Technical Club of Dallas donated $20,000 to the SMU School of Engineering.
The organization celebrated its 70th anniversary in 1989 and its 75th anniversary in 1994. On May 31, 1994 the city honored the club by declaring the day the “Technical Club of Dallas Day.”
Sources:
Technical Club of Dallas, “Technical Club of Dallas – General Information,” Folder 12 Box 1
Technical Club of Dallas, “1994 – Technical Club of Dallas 75th Anniversary,” Folder 8 Box 3
“Flood Control Program Planned,”
“Technical Club Installs Officers,”
These are the records of the Technical Club of Dallas. They contain: membership rosters, expenses, dues, speeches, reports, correspondence, constitutions, by-laws, minutes, newspaper clippings, and the group’s newsletter,
The collection is organized into 3 series:
Collection is open for research use.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
Southern Methodist University School of Engineering records (SMU 1991.0069)
Technical Club of Dallas records, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Gift, Gordon L. Rice, 2010.
By Aaron Sanchez, 2010.
Cynthia Franco, 2011.
This series contains the group’s newsletter, The Technician. Missing from this collection are the years 1933-1943, 1956, 1960, and 1961.