New exhibit celebrates 60 years of service to New Yorkers

ALBANY, N.Y. » New York State Office of General Services (OGS) Commissioner RoAnn Destito announced Thursday OGS is celebrating is 60th birthday with an online exhibit titled “OGS: Stronger at 60.” The virtual exhibit at www.ogs.ny.gov takes viewers from the beginning of agency operations on Oct. 1, 1960, through its participation in New York State’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic this year.

“Nearly every week since I was sworn in by Governor Cuomo as Commissioner in 2011, I’ve learned about something new or different that OGS is responsible for getting done,” Destito said in a news release.

“From operating office buildings statewide to overseeing the use of State lands underwater, and from putting on New York State’s annual Fourth of July celebration and Summer Stage in Harlem to providing the public with free tours of the Capitol, OGS is here to support other State agencies and provide services and some fun to the public. Whether we’re procuring road salt to ensure a safe winter drive for motorists, overseeing the dredging of navigation channels on Lake Ontario, managing construction at the Great New York State Fair, or providing human resources, travel, and financial transaction services for more than 60 State agencies, the dedicated and hardworking members of Team OGS have done an outstanding job for the people of New York over the past 60 years,” Destito added.

“Stronger at 60” shares a timeline of agency operations, starting with Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller’s convening of a commission to study and improve the effectiveness of State government. The commission recommended creating a new state agency, and, following approval by the Legislation, OGS began operations on Oct. 1, 1960, with its first commissioner, General C.V.R. Schuler, working in a small office in the Capitol.

The agency’s early years were defined by its management of construction projects throughout the state, with new offices built at a quick pace in places such as Watertown, Binghamton, Utica, Harlem, and Albany to house the State’s workforce. Tasked with transforming the state’s capital into an internationally recognized center for government and culture, OGS’s work on the Empire State Plaza began in 1965.

The online exhibit is packed full of OGS milestones and fun facts, from the agency’s early work selling surplus State property, repairing typewriters, and testing file cabinets, to setting up venues for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, to completing major restoration projects at the New York State Capitol.

Visitors to the online exhibit will learn about OGS’s role in creating multiple memorials at the Empire State Plaza to honor New York’s heroes, its first purchase of electric vehicles, as well as OGS’s contributions to the State’s unprecedented response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Across the past 60 years, OGS has grown from an agency consisting of a single person in a small office into a substantial and diverse organization with employees in more than 25 locations throughout the state.

“Stronger at 60” shares a timeline of agency operations, starting with Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller’s convening of a commission to study and improve the effectiveness of State government.