The Years of '86
"The Years of '86" is a sort of anniversary college yearbook, published in 1930 about members of the RPI class of 1886. Sumner Larue Tone (1864-1942) was a member of that class.
It contains the following mostly professional biography of Sumner Larue Tone (1864-1942):
SUMNER LA RUE TONE, C. E., Railroad Official. | Son of Thomas J. and Catherine (Spafford) Tone. | Was born in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, November 1, 1864. Resided in Bergen, Genesee County, N. Y. Prepared at Brockport State Normal School, and entered the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with the Class of 1886 in 1882. Member of the Rensselaer Society of Engineers. | Graduated as civil engineer. Married Blanche Torrence in December, 1892. | Three children, Elizabeth Tone Hosmer, Katherine [sic] S. and George L. Tone.
His first engineering duty was a position with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in February, 1887, as axman in Philadelphia. He followed successively as transitman on cable railway construction for the Philadelphia Traction Company and later in Pittsburgh on similar work for the Pittsburgh Traction Company.
With the development of electricity as a means of transportation, he became assistant engineer on the first electric railway system in Pittsburgh and subsequently chief engineer of several traction companies in the same city. He also engaged in the organization and construction of various electric railways. With the general consolidation of such systems in Pittsburgh, in 1902, he was appointed assistant to the president of such consolidated system, James D. Callery, an elder brother of our late classmate, William V. Callery, of "'86." With the changes following from time to time, he became second vice president, vice president and president of the Pittsburgh Railways Company; also of the Duquesne Light Company, the Beaver Valley Traction Company and various underlying and affiliated companies; president of the Cheswick and Harmar Railroad Company, the Harwick Coal Company, the Glenwood Highway Bridge
Company, the Coraopolis and Neville Island Bridge Company, and various incline plane companies. This association continued until 1924, when retirement was made from active connection with said companies.Since then, he has been associated in the organization and construction of toll bridges over the Ohio River at Portsmouth, Pomeroy and Steubenville, Ohio; and is President respectively of the Fullerton-Portsmouth Bridge Company, The Pomeroy-Mason Bridge Company, and the Steubenville-Weirton Bridge Company; treasurer of the White Clay Mine Company; member of the City Planning Commission of Pittsburgh; trustee of the Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh; member of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania, of the Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, University Club, Duquesne Club, and Stanton Heights Golf Club.
In 1913, he was appointed by Gov. John K. Tener as the civil engineer member of the first Public Service Commission of Pennsylvania; the Governor appointing as the first commissioners, a judge, a banker, a manufacturer, an ex-Governor and attorney, an educator, an economist and a civil engineer. He served two years as such commissioner during the organization and first activities of the commission, and the application of the public service commission law to the utilities of the state. P. O. address, 5305 Westminster Street, Pittsburgh, Pa.
A handwritten addition (which appears to be Katharine Spofford Tone (1904-1983)'s handwriting) reads
Trustee Third Pres. Church, Director & Vice-Pres, Pittsburgh Assoc. for the Improvement of the Poor
Additionally, the following biography was clipped from an unknown source and inserted in the book:
PROMINENT PITTSBURGHERS
Sumner LaRue Tone.
Few men in the United States know as much about the history, construction and difficulties of street railways as Sumner LaRue Tone, one of the receivers of the Pittsburgh Railways Company and one of the most accomplished traction engineers in the country. Mr. Tone has been actively identified with the street railway business for more than thirty years, built the first cable road in Pittsburgh and had charge or a part in the engineering of practically every electric line in Western Pennsylvania. With all of his experience and vexations Mr. Tone is an exceptionally modest and patient man and is regarded by his associates as an example of conservatism.
Mr. Tone was born in Cincinnati and was educated in the public schools of Bergen, N.Y., where his parents moved when he was quite young. He prepared for college in the academical department of the normal school at Brockport, N. Y., graduating as a civil engineer from Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., in 1886.
Following his graduation Mr. Tone became an axman on a construction engineering corps of the Pennsylvania railroad in Philadelphia, and later entered the service of the Philadelphia Traction Company as engineer in the construction of the cable road on South Seventh and Ninth streets. In 1888 Mr. Tone was sent by the Widener and Elkins syndicate of Philadelphia as assistant engineer in the construction of the first cable railway in Pittsburgh. Mr. Tone has since been continuously identified with the street railways of Pittsburgh, becoming chief engineer of the United Traction and West End Traction Companies, whose systems he built. In 1902 he became assistant to the president of the Pittsburgh Railways Company and eventually second vice president and president, retiring from the latter when appointed one of the receivers by the .United States District Court. Mr. Tone has also for years been actively identified with the electric light and power industry as second vice president of the Allegheny County and Duquesne Light companies.
On July 1, 1913 Mr. Tone was appointed by Governor Tener because of his exceptional ability as a member of the Public Service Commission of Pennsylvania but was removed by Governor Brumbaugh to make way for a poliician.
Mr. Tone is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania, National Electric Light Association, Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and Duquesne Club. He has for many years been active in the work of the Third Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, tak- ing a special interest in the Sunday School.
Mr. Tone married Miss Blanche Torrance