What is the Alden Society?
The 1840s were very heady years for a kid mesmerized by mechanical things. Across the country the seeds of the industrial revolution had taken root, sprouting a growing network of railways. The wizards of this industrial age were the mechanics. Presiding over busy machine shops, they devised new ways to transform wood and raw steel into useful things, and new ways to harness machines to make those things faster, cheaper and better. They were the forerunners of a new breed of professional – the engineer – who in the latter half of the 19th century would marry the inventive genius of the mechanic and the insight of the scientist.
That was the world into which George Ira Alden was born on April 22, 1843. The eighth-generation descendent of Mayflower passengers John Alden and Priscilla Mullins grew up in Templeton, Massachusetts, a Central Massachusetts town home then to about 2,500. Located at the junction of three stage coach routes and two rail lines, Templeton bustled with taverns, shops and a busy hotel. The town also hosted a small group of industries. Itslargest enterprise was the tinware factory of John Boynton, who had moved his thriving business from New Hampshire nearly two decades before.
Educated at Harvard's Lawrence School of Science, George Alden became Professor Alden of the Mechanical Engineering Department at WPI and one of the founders of the Norton Company. He helped persuade Stephen Salisbury III, a trustee of WPI, to donate his 240 acres and water rights to Worcester Tech. Professor Alden had already established the Alden Research Laboratory, now a for-profit research center, on that land.
By the time Professor George Alden died, he had created one of the great family foundations in the area, and had given generously to WPI. The George I. Alden Trust continues to provide generous gifts to higher education in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the six New England states, and to the YMCA for capital projects.
WPI's Alden Society is named for Professor Alden as a tribute to his relentless pursuit of knowledge, his excellent academic skills, and his remarkable philanthropy.
How to Join the Alden Society?
If you have included WPI in your estate plans, whether that is through a bequest, a life-income gift, an irrevocable or revocable trust, your retirement plans, an insurance policy, or another planned gift, we welcome you to the Alden Society.
The Alden Society is a group of members who have included WPI in these kinds of estate plans, and are invited to the campus and to other events to learn more of the ongoing education and research at WPI.With your AldenSociety welcome packet you will receive an Alden Society lapel pin, the newest Alden Society newsletter, and a membership roster of Alden members. You will be invited to the annual Alden Society luncheon, held on campus during ReunionWeekend, and other events for Alden members.
If you have included WPI in your estate plans or would like to learn more about the Alden Society, please fill in the information below and send it electronically to us.We will get back with you as soon as possible: