[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 27, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8606-S8607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING J. CLEVELAND CADY

 Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the 
contributions of a New Yorker with North Dakota ties--J. Cleveland 
Cady.
  A few weeks ago while reading the New York Times, I happened across 
an article that referenced Mr. Cady's contributions to Manhattan's 
architecture. Mr. Cady was a prominent architect in New York during the 
late 1800s. He designed the American Museum of Natural History as well 
as the original Metropolitan Opera House. He also designed a 
significant portion of a fairly notable institution we know today as 
Yale University.
  This article caught my eye because of a special connection between 
Mr. Cady and the State of North Dakota.
  Early in the last century, a young North Dakotan named William Langer 
was attending a concert during his time at Columbia University when he 
noticed a beautiful woman sitting below him on the orchestra level. 
According to the William Langer Papers

[[Page S8607]]

collected at the University of North Dakota, Mr. Langer was fond of 
recalling how he managed to have the woman's date called away on a 
phantom phone call. Seizing his opportunity, Mr. Langer approached the 
young lady and struck up a conversation. They began a long courtship 
shortly thereafter before marrying in 1918.
  That woman was Lydia Cady, the daughter of J. Cleveland Cady.
  Sadly, Mr. Cady died just 1 year after his daughter's wedding.
  However, as the New York Times piece indicates, Mr. Cady's momentous 
architectural contributions continue to shape the landscape of New York 
City today.
  In much the same way, his son-in-law's achievements played a key role 
in shaping the North Dakota of today. ``Wild Bill'' Langer was a 
larger-than-life figure in North Dakota politics for nearly half a 
century. Mr. Langer was elected attorney general of North Dakota in 
1916. He went on to be elected Governor of North Dakota in 1932 and 
again in 1936. He then represented North Dakota in the U.S. Senate from 
1941 to 1959, holding the seat I am now privileged to hold. In the 
Senate, Bill Langer was a champion for a range of issues that remain 
important to North Dakota today, including rural electrification, 
agriculture, and health care.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the New York Times 
article on Mr. Cady's architecture be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the New York Times, May 18, 2007]

                           J. Cleveland Cady

       On a morning in March when pedestrians were sliding around 
     on the ice in front of the American Museum of Natural 
     History, hard hats were walking along wooden planks 120 feet 
     overhead installing blue metal scaffolds around a tiled tower 
     that resembled an upside-down ice cream cone with one scoop 
     on top. A vast scrim was stretched tightly down to the 
     ground; behind it a three-year restoration of the building's 
     facade would take place--dentistry on a grand scale. The 
     goal? To preserve the robust and magnificent neo-Romanesque 
     building designed by J. Cleveland Cady of Cady, Berg & See in 
     the 1890s.


                                 Eagles

       Fernando Fuentes, a foreman for the restoration company, 
     stood on the sidewalk in his green hard hat. A former 
     accountant, he began working high up on the sides of New York 
     buildings 30 years ago. ``I didn't want to wear a tie 
     anymore,'' he said. ``I wanted to get outdoors. The first 
     time I looked down from the 60th floor of a building I went 
     `uh-oh' but I got used to it. Now I love it. You see for 
     miles. Sometimes eagles have flown around us while we worked. 
     We restored the tallest and most beautiful buildings in New 
     York--the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center.''


                                  Cady

       Cady, who was influenced by the great H.H. Richardson, 
     designed the original Metropolitan Opera House in 1883. He 
     built hospitals, churches, houses and college buildings (15 
     at Yale alone) but today he is pretty much forgotten. Even in 
     the natural history museum where everything from limpet to 
     triceratops is labeled, the name of J. Cleveland Cady is 
     nowhere to be seen.


                                 Memory

       The Church of the Covenant, a modest building, stands at 
     310 East 42nd Street. Inside the church, a graceful 
     Romanesque arch curves above the altar, and cast-iron columns 
     support screens of white flowers. In a hall by the front door 
     is a photograph of Cady, framed in dark wood. Cady, who died 
     in 1919, taught Sunday school in the church for 58 years. 
     Across from the portrait that is--finally--a plaque devoted 
     to Cady, even though it is turning black with age. ``In 
     loving memory of J. Cleveland Cady,'' it says.


                       Outside the Museum--April

       Mr. Fuentes pokes his finger into a crack between two large 
     blocks of pink granite: ``we're going to point up all the 
     stone.'' Men in yellow hard hats are loading chunks of stone 
     into blue wheelbarrows and dumping them into an open truck 
     the color of ketchup. ``This place is beautiful,'' says Mr. 
     Fuentes. ``One day years from now I'll drive by and I'll say, 
     `I worked there.' ''

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