Daily AncestorStationary engineer
A stationary engineer ran and maintained steam engines, boilers and other power machinery fixed in one place, such as in a factory, mine, mill or large building.
The word engineer once meant a man who ran engines, not a university-trained designer. A stationary engineer kept the boilers fired and the engines that drove a plant's machinery or heat running safely.
Census instructions from 1900 on told enumerators to separate stationary engineers and firemen from locomotive engineers and firemen, so the word stationary matters when you read the line.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1900 to 1940 census
Geo. Platt, 44, Stationary engineer, Paper mill
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Stationary engineer." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/stationary-engineer. Last checked 2026-10-01.