13 Facts About Edward Bassett

Edward Bassett served one term as a US Representative for New York from 1903 to 1905.

Edward Bassett attended Hamilton College and Amherst College, graduating from the latter in 1884.

In 1886 Bassett graduated from Columbia and was admitted to the bar, and began practicing law in Buffalo, New York.

Edward Bassett married Annie R Preston on May 14,1890, and they had five children together: Marion P Bassett; inventor and engineer Preston Bassett; geologist Isabel Bassett Wasson; Howard M Bassett; and Helen B Hauser.

In 1903 Edward Bassett was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives, representing New York's 5th congressional district.

Edward Bassett served one term from March 4,1903, to March 3,1905, but declined to run for reelection so he could serve at the local level.

In 1907 Edward Bassett was appointed by Governor Charles Evans Hughes to the New York Public Service Commission, where he served until 1911.

Edward Bassett was vice-chairman of the Brooklyn Committee on City Plan, for which a report was published in 1914.

Edward Bassett was chairman of the Heights of Buildings Commission in New York City, the final report of which 1916 presented the first Zoning Resolution of the City of New York, which was the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in the United States.

Edward Bassett consequently 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.

Edward Bassett authored the 1936 book Zoning, published by the Russell Sage Foundation.

Edward Bassett died in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, on October 27,1948, at the age of 85.

Edward Bassett is buried at Ashfield Plains Cemetery, Ashfield, Massachusetts.