New York City annexed the Bronx. Patents were issued for iconic blue jeans and incandescent lamps. Herbert Hoover, Gertrude Stein and Winston Churchill were born. Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the U.S., died. Eads Bridge, the world’s first large-scale steel crossing, opened in St. Louis. The California State Capitol wrapped up construction.

Among these notable milestones in 1874, came another near and dear to all of us at ENR. It was the year George H. Frost founded Engineer & Surveyor. The following year, the journal’s name was changed to Engineering News, and in 1911, it was sold to the Hill Publishing Co.

Meanwhile, Henry C. Meyer founded The Plumber and Sanitary Engineer in December, 1877. After several name switches, in 1890 the journal became Engineering Record. In 1901 Meyer sold the magazine to James H. McGraw and the McGraw Publishing Co.

In 1917, after the merger of the McGraw and the Hill Publishing companies, the two publications were unified as Engineering News-Record on April 5 of that year.

Should historical markers—such as 150th birthdays—resonate beyond the confines of an organization’s own office walls? We often hear from readers that ENR is the “Bible” of the construction industry. Undoubtably, it’s our long-term historical perspective that fosters that comparison. But also common to the past century and a half of journalism is ENR’s dedication to accurately report and analyze what readers need to know about key issues affecting their jobs.

ENR has constantly evolved over the years to deliver industry coverage, products and platforms in formats that best fit the needs of all the people who work in the AEC community. Today, ENR reaches readers through a print and digital magazine, a robust website with hundreds of articles, videos and podcasts posted monthly, 22 digital newsletters, about 50 webinars produced a year, 19 in-person conferences and awards programs, along with a digital construction costs subscription service. ENR’s ecosystem also includes 10 regional U.S. websites as well as regional print/digital magazines.

The future is never as distant as it seems, so we are making changes to be ready. To provide more digital content we are adjusting our print schedule to 20 issues in 2024, plus 48 regional print editions. Also, we are repackaging our Contractors, Designers, Owners and Global Sourcebooks to four exclusive Top Rankings Review+ digital editions.

In this issue and throughout the year, we invite you to look back at some of the biggest news from the past (see p. 21) and to ask what’s changed and what hasn’t? In this effort, we can learn by examining the strands of history together.

For those wishing to delve further, there is a remarkable free, high-quality digital archive of all of ENR’s content from our founding in 1874 through 1922 by HathiTrust, a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Visit the archive here.