Kate Gleason, born Catherine Anselm Gleason in 1865 and died in 1933, was an American engineer and businesswoman from Rochester, New York, who rose through her family's gear-cutting machinery firm, Gleason Works, expanding its international sales through tours of Europe and representation at the 1900 Paris Exhibition. In 1913 she became the first woman elected to the German engineering society Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, and in 1914 the first woman elected to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. After leaving Gleason Works in 1913 she led several other companies, including work developing poured-concrete methods for building affordable low-cost housing in East Rochester, and the Kate Gleason College of Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology was named for her in 1998.
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1. Kate Gleason (Wikipedia)
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Catherine Anselm Gleason (November 24, 1865, January 9, 1933) was an American engineer and businesswoman known for her accomplishments in the field of engineering and for her philanthropy. Starting at a young age, she managed several roles in the family-owned Gleason Works in Rochester, New York, and later used her experience to launch a successful career in finance and construction.
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What made Kate Gleason a pioneering woman in engineering?
She was the first woman elected to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1914, after building her career in her fathers gear company.
Gleason went to work for her father at Gleason Works, a gear-cutting company in Rochester, New York, at about age 11, and in 1884 enrolled in the Cornell Mechanical Arts program as the first woman in its engineering program. She rose to company secretary and treasurer and became a traveling salesperson, touring Europe in 1893 to find foreign customers. In 1913 she became the first woman elected to the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, and in 1914 the first woman elected to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She was later appointed receiver of bankruptcy for the Ingle Machine Company, became president of First National Bank of East Rochester in 1918, and developed a pouring method for building affordable fireproof concrete houses.
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