James Gordon Steese was born on January 21, 1882, in Mount Holly Springs, Pennsylvania, to James and Anna Shaeffer Steese. He was a 1902 graduate of Dickinson College and was very active as a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and the Union Philosophical Society, as well as several dramatic and musical organizations. Originally meant to graduate in 1903, Steese served as the class historian and on the Microcosm board of editors until he was promoted to a higher-class year.
After graduation, he attended the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Graduating with honors in 1907, he was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers.
Stationed in Panama, Steese worked on the Isthmian Railroad and the Panama Canal Project between 1907 and 1912. Afterwards, he was assigned to various engineering projects in the United States with the Corps of Engineers. Just prior to World War I he was promoted to the rank of colonel. In 1919 he served as Assistant Chief of Engineers and Chief of a General Staff Section during a trip to post-World War I Europe. His service in Europe also gained him several foreign decorations.
Returning to the United States, Steese was appointed president of the Alaska Road Commission. Serving until 1927, he spent his summers in Alaska working on public works projects and winters touring the United States, raising government awareness for the importance of Alaskan public works. For his efforts in Alaska, the highway from Fairbanks to Circle was named the Steese Highway. Steese was also commissioned a brigadier general in the Alaska National Guard during his time in the Territory.
In 1927, Steese left his public service position due to injury and retired from the military. From 1928 until World War II he was involved in several business ventures where he served in various executive roles. During World War II Steese was recalled to public service providing assistance in Panama to the defense of the Panama Canal as Executive Assistant to the Engineer of Maintenance and later, Assistant to the Governor. In 1948 he permanently retired from government service.
Steese traveled the globe extensively throughout his life and served as an official delegate of the United States at several international functions. He died on January 11, 1958, after a car accident while on a trip in Bangui, French Equatorial Africa. He never married.
Courtesy of Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections: https://archives.dickinson.edu/people/james-gordon-steese-1882-1958
A native of Carlisle, Jay Zeamer grew up in Orange, New York and spent many summers in Boothbay Harbor. He attained his bachelor’s and Master’s in engineering from MIT, while also enrolled in the Army ROTC program.