Engineer
Centurion, 1917–1928
Born 16 October 1871 in Saint Louis, Missouri
Died 19 July 1928 in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York
Buried Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York
Proposed by George A. Harwood and Jacob G. Schurman
Elected 7 April 1917 at age forty-five
Century Memorial
Edwin Britton Katte’s career provided an interesting picture of inherited qualities, highly developed and applied to the changing conditions of a new era. Thirty years ago his father, Chief Engineer of the New York Central under the old mechanical régime, initiated the young man into the humble work of draftsman. When Katte entered the service of the railway, the problem of electric traction in the congested urban areas was pressing for solution. The young draftsman’s superior officers quickly perceived in him an eminently practical grasp of the situation.
Under such circumstances, rapid promotion followed. Within eight years the young mechanical draftsman had become the Central’s Chief Engineer of Electric Traction, in which office he shared with his notable fellow-engineers and fellow-Centurions Wilgus, [Charles A.] Reed [sic: not a member] and Harwood the immense task of reconstructing the railway’s path of entry into the heart of New York City.
Alexander Dana Noyes
1929 Century Association Yearbook
