BSCES is the oldest engineering association in the United States and serves over 3,200 members across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Founded in 1848, BSCES is a professional organization that excels in its technical programs, enhances the professional growth of its members, advances engineering knowledge, and works to improve the standards of practice.
It also advocates for long-term sustainable funding to address the maintenance and modernization of our infrastructure.
BSCES is a volunteer run organization in which the members sit on various boards, committees and groups that create policies, make operational decisions, and plan events. BSCES utilizes paid staff from The Engineering Center Education Trust to assist in the day-to-day activities and to provide continuity.
We’re not the best because we’re the oldest, we’re the oldest because we’re the best!
BSCES is the leading organization in the region dedicated to educating K-12 and college students about civil engineering. BSCES hosts numerous school visits, tours of area bridges, and a variety of competitions geared to exposing the profession to the K-12 community.
We also support ten ASCE student chapters across the state. The accompanying link provides a detailed description of our activities.
BSCES also promotes our profession and the need to invest in our infrastructure through advocacy at both the state and federal level. We actively review and help to develop legislation and regulations that support the civil engineering profession and long-term sustainable investment in our infrastructure. Our recent government relations activities include participation in Climate Adaptation, Public-Private-Partnership, and Transportation legislation initiatives.
The Western Massachusetts Branch is a subsidiary organization of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section.
The branch’s goals include:
The Boston Society of Civil Engineers is proud to be a member Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Founded in 1852, the ASCE represents more than 140,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide, and is America’s oldest national engineering society. ASCE’s vision is to position engineers as global leaders building a better quality of life. Its mission is to provide essential value to our members, their careers, our partners and the public by developing leadership, advancing technology, advocating lifelong learning, and promoting the profession. For more information, visit the ASCE Home Page.
Established in 1848, BSCES is the oldest engineering society in the United States and currently supports over 3,400 members throughout Massachusetts. On April 26, 1848, BSCE founding members met at the U.S. Hotel in Boston to discuss forming a society for civil engineers. Since that time, the Boston Society of Civil Engineers has been at the forefront of the industry. Editors of the of the BSCES Civil Engineering Practice Journal published 98 volumes of scholarly, peer-reviewed technical articles almost continuously between 1914 and 2012, with only a short break during World War I. This printed publication is now being produced online.
In 1974, BSCES formally became a Section of ASCE following a merger with ASCE’s Massachusetts Section. Ten years later, BSCES was instrumental in the formation of The Engineering Center, already a focal point for our professions throughout New England. With The Engineering Center Education Trust, BSCES staff is now headquartered at One Walnut Street in Boston, MA. It is appropriate that BSCES, as the oldest technical society in the United States, should have its headquarters in a building that reflects heritage and prestige.
Read a history of the Society published in the 1986 Journal
The building at One Walnut Street was the product of Charles Bulfinch, the leading architect of his time. In addition to designing the Massachusetts State House, Bulfinch is noted for designing many outstanding homes on Beacon Hill establishing a style of elegance that has made the hill famous. The Engineering Center was built on the corner of Beacon Street and what is now Walnut Street, with its original entrance on Beacon Street. Built in 1804 in the “square style” for which Bulfinch was noted, it was one of the earliest, and most probably the first, brick house on Beacon Street.
The builder and first resident of the house, John Phillips, was one of Boston’s most prominent citizens. He was a member of the Massachusetts State Senate and elected the first mayor of Boston in 1822. Born in the house was his son Wendell Phillips, the famous orator for abolitionism and other causes. After John Phillips died, his heirs sold the house to Thomas Lindall Winthrop, who was a very prominent Bostonian serving in the State Senate and as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1826 to 1832. Subsequent owners included Thomas Dixon, who served the Dutch government as Consul General at Boston and abroad; noted philanthropist Nathan Matthews; successful Boston businessman Robert M. Mason and his daughters, Ida M. and Ellen F. Mason.
In 1931, Mrs. James J. Storrow purchased One Walnut Street from the Mason Estate, and in 1939 donated it to the Judge Baker Foundation as its headquarters. The work performed to transform the former private residence to accommodate institutional functions removed some of Bulfinch’s and other later architectural features from the interior, but made it adaptable to the uses of The Engineering Center without requiring extensive alterations.
In 1976, the building was acquired by the Phillips-Winthrop House Trust to serve as the law offices of Mahoney, Hawkes & Goldings. Some interior changes were effected to suit its new, more modern function. In 1978 an exterior restoration was accomplished that removed many of the decorative features that had been added over the years including its exterior gray paint which expose the old red brick. On June 7, 1990, the Trust sold One Walnut Street to The Engineering Center Education Trust.
The building at One Walnut Street is an historic building that contributes to, and is part of, historic Beacon Hill. The mansard roof is certainly not Bulfinch, but even with this later addition, the Bulfinch lines and features are still in evidence. The changed features that remain reflect the history of Beacon Hill and Boston over the two centuries since the house was built. In this building, engineers can be reminded of their rich heritage on which they base their present and future.
One Walnut Street represents a proud past. It will be a fitting reminder to those of the engineering societies that constitute The Engineering Center of the great heritage that they represent as they make history today and in the future.
Read the full article, published in the Fall 1990 issue of CIVIL ENGINEERING PRACTICE, the Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE. H. Hobart Holly (d. 1996) was the Chairman of the History and Heritage Committee of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE.
Over the years, BSCES has operated under the leadership of a distinguished list of presidents. Most recent former presidents, with the year their presidency began, include:
2013 – Reed M. Brockman, PE
2014 – Ali Touran, PhD, PE
2015 – Ellen P. White, PE
2016 – Brian Morgan, Esq.
2017 – Malek A. Al-Khathib, PE
2018 – Geoffrey B. Schwartz, PE
2019 – Richard D. Maher, PE, PMP, LEED AP, CSL
2020 – Bruce L. Jacobs, PE
2021 – Shallan C. Fitzgerald, PE
2022 – Ronald K. Burns, PE, LSP
2023 – Michael R. Cunningham, PE
2024 – Christopher P. Hersey, LEED AP