Background
He was was born on April 22, 1865 in Wells, Me.
He was the son of Alonzo K. and Abbie F. (Yeaton) Tripp. His father was an attorney.
He was was born on April 22, 1865 in Wells, Me.
He was the son of Alonzo K. and Abbie F. (Yeaton) Tripp. His father was an attorney.
Guy attended the district school in Wells and later, South Berwick Academy, working in a grocery store summers to secure needed funds.
When he was eighteen, a friend found a place for him as clerk in the office of the Eastern Railroad at Salem, Massachussets; at twenty-five, he was employed by the Thomson-Houston Electric Company as its storekeeper in Boston and subsequently became traveling auditor. In this capacity he visited and studied many public-utility plants, attracting attention by his keenness in appraising the value and possibilities of such properties.
In 1897 he joined the staff, as auditor, of Stone & Webster, then a young engineering firm beginning to build and operate public-service plants. He rapidly rose to the vice-presidency of both of the two corporations into which, for engineering and management purposes, the business of the firm was divided.
When in 1910 the firm was called upon to aid in the reorganization of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New York, Tripp acted as its representative. He became chairman of the reorganization committee, and at the auction of the railway's properties in December 1911, he bought them in for the bondholders for about $12, 000, 000.
His masterly handling of the intricate task of reorganizing this company led in January 1912 to his being chosen chairman of the board of directors of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, a position which he continued to hold until his death. Under his direction the company enjoyed great prosperity, increasing its varied business in all countries of the world.
During the participation of the United States in the World War, Tripp was one of the most prominent of all civilians in patriotic service. In January 1918 the government selected him as chief of the production division of the ordnance department with the rank of major, but within ten months he was made a brigadier-general and assistant to the chief of ordnance of the United States Army.
Thereafter, he continued to cooperate with the War Department in plans for industrial preparedness for possible war. He was for some time a member of the advisory board of the New York ordnance district.
In 1923-24 he made a trip around the world to study business conditions bearing upon the great foreign trade of the Westinghouse concerns.
During the latter years of his life, he spent much time studying the future possibilities of electric development in the United States, believing that power is to be perhaps the greatest factor in progress. He spoke and wrote much on the subject, and worked out in detail an elaborate plan for a great electric system to operate all railroads, street transportation, factories, farms, and homes in the entire country. Among his published monographs are Proposed Antitrust Legislation (1914), a speech before the Chamber of Commerce of the United States; Water Power and Statesmanship (1923), reprinted from the New York Times, March 11, 1923; Super-Power as an Aid to Progress (1924); Electric Development as an Aid to Agriculture (1926).
He died in New York City.
For several years he was the president of New York Post, Army Ordnance Association.
On August 25, 1887, he married Mary Elaine O'Connell of Salem, Massachussets, who with three daughters survived him.