Schenectady's General Electric Realty Plot was formed in 1899 when the
General Electric (GE) Company purchased 70 acres of land from
prestigious Union College.
This move provided unique housing opportunities for its executives and
scientists and attracted brilliant minds from around the world to work
for GE. The original 178 homes were designed by leading architects from
as far away as Boston, New York City, and Chicago. The neighborhood,
colloquially known as The Plot, would also become home to political and
religious leaders, businesspeople, and entertainment elite. Inhabited by
luminaries such as Charles Proteus Steinmetz, 1932 Nobel Prize winner
Irving Langmuir, Ernst Alexanderson, and William D. Coolidge, the GE
Realty Plot was also home to many important historic firsts, including
the first demonstration of radar in the United States and the first
reception of a television signal in a house.