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New York - Schenectady - Points of Interest UNION COLLEGE, Union St. opposite Nott Terrace, pioneer institution, second incorporated college in New York State, 'mother of college fraternities,' where go college presidents studied and worked, was chartered in 1795. The 100-acre campus, with broad lawns, giant elms, and shrub rows, is a sylvan retreat in the midst of a large industrial city. The U-shaped main quadrangle, with the old college dormitories at the two ends, represents part of the unique campus plan designed in 1813 by Joseph Jacques Ramée, French architect. Kappa Alpha, the oldest Greek letter college fraternity, was founded at Union in 1825; Sigma Phi, Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, Chi Psi, and Theta Delta Chi followed in quick succession. The first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in New York State was established at Union in 1817. William Henry Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State, graduated from Union in 1820; Robert Toombs, Secretary of State for the Confederacy, graduated eight years later; Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States, graduated in 1848. Union College, though financially and administratively independent, is associated with the Albany Medical College, the Albany Law School, the Albany College of Pharmacy, and the Dudley Observatory in Union University. South College, built in 1814, with faculty homes in the two wings and student dormitories in the rest of the building, typifies Union post-Colonial architecture: dark, stucco-covered brick walls with white cement pilasters. The Nott Memorial Library, in the center of the main quadrangle, is an unusual ten-sided building erected in 1858-76. The design, by Edward Tuckerman Potter, class of 1853, pupil of Richard Upjohn, is based on that of the Baptistry at Pisa. It is an excellent example of Victorian Gothic with some Lombard details. It occupies the site intended by Ramée for a classical rotunda. The Memorial Chapel is a modern adaption of the Classical Revival style treated with unusual simplicity and directness. The side elevations recall the design of the earlier college buildings; the front has a pedimented portico. The building was erected in 1924 with funds subscribed by the college community and the public to commemorate the Union boys who died in the World War. Jackson's Garden, entrance through the Kappa Alpha Memorial Gateway between North Colonnade and the General Engineering Building, about 100 years old, is widely known for its beauty. One part is carefully landscaped in formal flower beds, and the rest is allowed to grow in a natural wildness, the quiet broken only by 'the brook that bounds through old Union's grounds.' The GENERAL ELECTRIC PLANT, 1 River Road, has 360 buildings on 670 acres housing factories, broadcasting studios, the general offices of the company, and its principal research laboratories. The red brick, gray concrete, and corrugated sheet metal structures are strung out along Works Avenue. Most of the local production is of heavy equipment for the generation, transmission, and control of electrical energy; but some consumer products are also manufactured, especially refrigerators, induction motors, and radio transmitter apparatus. Many nationally known scientists have worked in the laboratories: Willis R. Whitney, originator of the metalized filament lamp; Elihu Thomson, pioneer in arc lighting; William D. Coolidge, inventor of ductile tungsten, the Coolidge X-ray tube, and the first high-power cathode ray tubes; W.L.R.Emmet, whose work in the development of turbine generators made possible the electrical propulsion of ships; Irving Langmuir, winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1932, who developed the gasfilled incandescent lamp, atomic-hydrogen welding, and the high-powered vacuum tube; E.F.W.Alexanderson, radio pioneer; and Charles Proteus Steinmetz, dynamic mathematical genius, whose name is closely associated with that of the company.   The WGY Studios, outside the factory gates, are housed in a red brick and steel building, with the north wall of glass brick. WGY, a unit of the red network of the National Broadcasting Company, broadcast its first program on February 20, 1922. In the building also are the studios of WGEA and WGEO, the short-wave stations through which the polar expeditions of Byrd and Amundsen communicated with the world. The WESTERN GATEWAY BRIDGE, State St. and Washington Ave., opened to traffic in 1926, spans the Mohawk River between Schenectady and Scotia. Built entirely of reinforced concrete, supported by a series of piers and graceful arches, it clings low to the land and water. The ROBERT SANDERS HOME, 43-45 Washington Ave., was built about 1750. Its brick walls are painted white with light gray trim at the windows and the cornice. Three high stories, with belt courses at the second and third floors, many 12-pane windows, and an arched, fanlighted doorway white against the faded brick, create a severe, dignified exterior. The heavy bracketed cornice is of later date. The house was once used as the quarters of the Schenectady Female Academy. The SCHENECTADY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING, 13 Union St., a two-story, yellow-painted brick structure, contains items identified with pre-Revolutionary, Revolutionary, and Civil War times, as well as articles illustrative of the growth and development of the city. A large mass of genealogical data on families of Schenectady and vicinity is on file. The MOHAWK CLUB,. NW. corner of Union and Church Sts., a three-story, vine-covered gray stone building, occupied by a leading social organization, stands on a site of historical interest. Purchased from the Indians in 1661 by Arent Van Curler, who is said to have erected a home here, the plot was within the original stockade built as a protection against Indian attacks. The present building was bought in 1817 to house the Mohawk National Bank; from 1872 to 1903 it was occupied by the Union Classical Institute, predecessor of the city's public high schools. The DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH, NE. corner of Union and Church Sts., was built in 1862 from plans drawn by Edward Tuckerman Potter. The stone structure, Gothic Revival in design, is in the form of an L, with a square tower surmounted by a spire. The roof is of slate in variegated colors arranged in ornamental design. A 30-by-40-foot walnut-andplate-glass screen separates the church and the consistory room. Four stained glass windows in the tower bear representations of the four earlier church buildings, the first of which was erected in 1682; and a rose window in the church proper displays the arms of the Dutch Reformed Church. The ABRAHAM YATES HOUSE, 109 Union St., erected between 1720 and 1730 and still in the possession of descendants of the original owner, is one of the oldest homes in the city. It is of characteristic Dutch Colonial architecture, with a steep gable facing the street and stepped diagonal brick courses along its rake. The roof is carried over a lean-to in the rear; the side walls are finished with clapboards. ST.GEORGE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, N.Ferry St. between Union and Front Sts., begun in 1759 and completed in 1766, is the oldest church in the Mohawk Valley. It is a stately, ivy-clad structure, built of gray limestone, with a gray slate hipped roof. A tall, finely proportioned wooden steeple surmounts the tower at the front entrance. The delicate Georgian Colonial detail of the exterior suggests the dignified and simple appointments within. Especially notable are the long 60-paned double hung windows with their arched heading. During the first months of the Revolution, St.George's, closely associated with the English, was forced to close its doors. At the end of the war, inhabited by stray animals, the windows and doors broken, it was gradually restored to its earlier condition; but not until 1798 were regular services resumed. According to local tradition, unauthenticated by historical evidence, Walter Butler, leader of the Indians and Tories and hated enemy of the Schenectady Whigs, was secretly buried beneath St.George's Church in 1781. The INDIAN STATUE, Front and N.Ferry Sts., enclosed in a circular iron fence, marks the site of Queen's Fort, erected in 1705 and used in connection with the barracks that extended along the east side of North Ferry Street almost to Union Street. During the Revolution the fort was tom down and the land sold, and Schenectady's career as a fortified town came to an end. The GOVERNOR YATES HOUSE, 17 Front St., has two wings. The smaller dates from 1735; the other, of later but unknown date, was originally gambrel-roofed but has been so altered that it is now three full stories high. The house is built of brick painted gray, with white stone trim and green blinds. The present entrance replaces one that was demolished in 1902. The original doorway of the smaller wing is charming in its delicacy of detail. The larger unit was the home of Joseph C. Yates, first resident of the Mohawk Valley to become governor of New York. The BROUWER-ROSA HOUSE, 14 N.Church St., is a twostory white frame house with wide, square-cut boards forming the front siding. The 12-pane windows have solid wood blinds painted an attractive shade of green. Electrified old wrought-iron lamps adorn the front entrance. The original house was built by Hendrick Brouwer between 1690 and 1710 and remained in the family until 1795, by which time the structure was a fabrication of three Dutch cottages. About the latter year, James Rosa altered the two cottages fronting on Church Street to present the post-Colonial appearance of today; the third, or rear cottage, remains unaltered. The SCHENECTADY CITY HALL, Jay St. between Liberty and Franklin Sts., is one of the outstanding modern buildings in the city. Designed by John M. Ryder in collaboration with McKim, Mead and White and built in 1931, the rectangular red brick structure with marble trim and slate roof is in the Georgian Colonial style. A white marble spiral stair graces the interior. SCHONOWEE VILLAGE, Hamilton and Millard Sts., a group of five three- and four-story red brick apartment buildings of modern design, is a PWA slum clearance project developed with the co-operation of the Municipal Housing Authority. Facilities include a playground, a play room, and a game room. The tenants represent nearly every form of employment in the city, with clerks and business and factory workers composing the largest groups. The village was designed by R.L.Bowen with J.W.Montross associated. The STEINMETZ HOUSE, 1297 Wendell Ave., was the last home of Charles Proteus Steinmetz ( 1865-1923), prominent engineer who made invaluable contributions in the fields of alternating current, electromagnetism, and lightning phenomena. He was associated with the General Electric Company from 1892 until his death and was professor of electrical engineering in Union College, 1902-23. Within the house are the laboratories, libraries, and workshop where Dr. Steinmetz did much of his research, and his desk, hiswell-worn slide rule, his humidor with his favorite cigars, his collections of butterflies and arrowheads. A conservatory extending across the southern wall of the house is much as Steinmetz left it. The AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE PLANT, junction of Erie Blvd., Nott and N.Jay Sts., is one of the largest manufacturers of steam and oil-electric locomotives in the United States. The factories, foundries, laboratories, and office buildings are long, low structures of brick or corrugated metal enveloped in bituminous dust and smoke. The plant was established in 1848, re-organized in 1851, and in 1901 taken over by the American Locomotive Company. It is now the company's main unit.