Résumé

Manager, Drill and Air-Compressor Department of Stearns-Roger Company, Colorado agents of the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company, New York, NY, 1891-1892.

Draftsman and Mechanical Engineer, Standard Smelting and Refining Company, Durango, CO, 1892-1893. A biography printed by the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1905 stated that he worked for James Breen of Butte, MT: “While with Mr. Breen, who had been engaged by Eastern capitalists to erect a copper-smelter at Durango, Colorado., Mr. Ackerman was entrusted with the preparation of the plans and the superintendence of the construction of the plant. He also designed power-plants, office-buildings for mining companies, etc., and was engaged in examining mining properties and superintending their operation.” (See Morton Memorial: A History of the Stevens Institute of Technology with Biographies of the Trustees, Faculty, and Alumni and a Record of Achievements of the Stevens Family of Engineers, Franklin De Ronde Furman, ed., [Hoboken, NJ: Stevens Institute of Technology, 1905], p. 287)

Assistant Superintendent, Pelican-Dives Mining Company, Silver, Plume, CO, c. 1892.

Chief Engineer, National Lead Company, New York, NY, 1893-1897. The book, Morton Memorial: A History of the Stevens Institute of Technology with Biographies of the Trustees, Faculty, and Alumni and a Record of Achievements of the Stevens Family of Engineers,indicated of his time with the National Lead Company: “From 1893 to 1896 he was consulting engineer with the National Lead Co., for whom in 1895-96 he remodelled the Philadelpia plant. A sectional view of the factory, in water-colors, was shown at the 25th Anniversary Exhibition of the work of the Alumni of the Institute in 1897." (See Morton Memorial: A History of the Stevens Institute of Technology with Biographies of the Trustees, Faculty, and Alumni and a Record of Achievements of the Stevens Family of Engineers, Franklin De Ronde Furman, ed., [Hoboken, NJ: Stevens Institute of Technology, 1905], p. 287.)

Partner, Ackerman and [Albert Randolph] Ross, Engineers and Architects, New York, NY, 1897-1902. Ross (1868-1948) resigned from the partnership in 1902. This firm developed a national practice, specializing in the design of libraries, particularly, as well as university buildings and laboratories. Ackerman and Ross produced the designs of at least 12 libraries financed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) during its existence.

Partner, Ackerman and [W.T.] Partridge, Engineers and Architects, New York, NY, 1902-1905. Perhaps the best-known work executed by Ackerman and Partridge was the Morton Memorial Laboratory at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Ackerman's alma mater, which Mechanical Engineering, the Journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, called "...a design containing so many new and admirable features that it has served as a model for many more recent laboratories.” (See “Necrology: William Sickles Ackerman,” Mechanical Engineering, vol,. 41, no, 1, 01/1919, p. 81.)

Principal, WIlliam S. Ackerman, Consulting Engineer, New York, NY, 1905-1919.

Secretary, Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, 1907-1913.

Patent Litigation Expert, O’Rourke Engineering Construction Company, New York, NY, 1916-1917.

Supervising Engineer, United States Army (USA), Ordnance Department, Russell, VA, c. 1919. Ackerman supervised construction of the Government Carbocoal plant at Russell, VA.

Professional Activities

Member, American Institute of Mining Engineers.

Member, Engineers' Club of New York, New York, NY, c. 1905.

Member American Institute of Architects (AIA), New Jersey Chapter.

Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York, NY, 1891-1919.

College

M.E., Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, 1891.

Relocation

Ackerman was born in Paterson, NJ, on 11/1868, and attended the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ.

Ackerman resided in Paterson, NJ, from at least 1905 until his death.

Ackerman died of heart failure following a short illness.

Parents

His father was Simeon Ackerman, his mother, Catherine Berdan.

Spouse

He wed Dagmar Svenheim.

Children

He and Dagmar had a daughter very late in his life.

Biographical Notes

Member, Alumni Association of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ.

President, Alumni Association of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, 1902-1903.

Member, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Member, Free and Accepted Masons (F. and A.M.), Ivanhoe Lodge, Paterson, NJ.

Member, Lotos Club, New York, NY, c. 1905. The Lotos Club was founded in 1870 as a literary club catering to wealthy New Yorkers.

Member, Hamilton Club, Paterson, NJ, c. 1905.

Member, Holland Society of New York, New York, NY, 1907-1919.

VIce-President, Holland Society of New York, for Passaic County, NJ, 1916.

• Paterson, NJ (Architect's Birth)
  Paterson, NJ 07505

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