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Ward House Ceremony
Cartoonist Mort Walker, Ed Cohen (ASCE Met Section Vice President), Mike Pender (ASCE Met Section President) and Winifred Ward (granddaughter of the original owner) at the dedication ceremony.
The Ward House in Rye Brook, New York was jointly designated as a National Historic Civil and Concrete Engineering Landmark by ASCE and the American Concrete Institute (ACI) in 1977. Located on Comly Avenue near the New York-Connecticut border, the structure was erected in 1873-1876 by William E. Ward, a prominent mechanical engineer and inventor and proprietor of the Russell, Burdsall and Ward Bold and Nut Company, whose extensive plant in Port Chester was for many years a principal employer in Westchester County.

A few years after the completion of the Ward House, the oldest extant reinforced concrete structure in the United States, William E. Ward authored a most informative paper on its construction which appeared in Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1882-1883, with the title, "Béton in Combination with Iron as a Building Material," which is recommended reading for those interested in the early development of reinforced concrete construction.

The Ward House served as the family home for four generations and was later sold to the world-renowned comic artist Mort Walker, creator of "Beetle Bailey" and "Hi and Lois" who converted it, without alteration to an International Museum of Cartoon Art. The large imposing structure with three and four story towers is locally called Ward's Castle, although when it was completed was called "Ward's Folly" because of the lack of confidence in the new structure material.

Ward House National Historic Civil and Concrete Engineering Landmark Plaque
A bronze plaque designating the Ward House as a National Historic Civil and Conrete Engineering Landmark was unveiled on May 20, 1978.

The building was constructed entirely of Portland cement concrete reinforced with iron I-beams and rods. Only the doors, window frames, and trim are of wood. No attempt was made to disguise the reinforced concrete, but rather to stress its character as a building material. The Ward House was a milestone in structural engineering. A new type of engineered construction had made its debut which today is universally employed. The structure demonstrated the practicability of reinforced concrete as a construction material for fireproof permanent structures, stimulating an entire new field for civil engineers.

A bronze plaque was unveiled by officers of the ASCE and ACI in a ceremony on May 20, 1978 on the grounds of the Ward House. Ray C. Heun of the New York Concrete Construction Institute and David Caplan, Chairman of the ASCE Met Section's History & Heritage Committee, arranged and conducted the ceremony. Michael R. Pender, President of the Met Section represented ASCE and Edward Cohen (also the ASCE Met Section Vice President) represented the American Concrete Institute. Miss Winifred Ward, granddaughter of the builder addressed the attendees relating some historical highlights of the building and its residents, the prominent Ward family. Mort Walker spoke about the renovation of the building and the museum's valuable collection. The International Museum of Cartoon Art subsequently relocated to Boca Raton, Florida in 1992.

 
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