Edward Bassett
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Edward Murray Bassett, born 1863 in Brooklyn, New York, was one of the founding fathers of modern day urban planning. Known as "The Father of American Zoning," Edward Bassett wrote the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in the United States, adopted by New York City in 1916.
Bassett served as a United States House of Representatives congressman from 1902/1903 to 1905 and on the Public Service Commission of New York, and during this time he aided in the development of the dual subway plan in New York City. He was vice-chairman of the Brooklyn Committee on City Plan, whose report was published in 1914; chairman of the Heights of Buildings Commission in New York City, whose final report, 1916, presented the first Zoning Resolution of the City of New York, also the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in the United States. He was appointed by Governor Charles Evans Hughes to the Public Service Commission, where he served from 1907 to 1911. He served posts of counsel to the Zoning Committee of New York, the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs, and the (New York) City Planning Commission. A member of the Advisory Committee on City Planning and Zoning, Bassett was appointed by then U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Herbert Hoover to serve as president of the National Conference on City Planning.
Most of his work, both private and on committees, concerns city planning, zoning and the legal issues surrounding these fields.
Bassett is also credited with developing the "freeway" and "parkway" concepts, and for coining the term "freeway" to describe a controlled access urban highway, based on the parkway concept but open to commercial traffic.
Bassett graduated from Amherst College in 1884 and worked as a teacher while attending Columbia University Law School. After graduating Columbia University in 1886, Bassett began practicing law in 1892.
Sources: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FWA), http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/freeway.htm Cornell University, Guide to the Edward M. Bassett Papers, 1892-1948, Collection Number: 2708, http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM02708.html
