Engineering Company continued to play a significant role throughout the Cincinnati region. Walter S. Schmidt became president of the company in 1931, when Punshon stepped down from his leadership role. 129As World War II got under way and the economy began to improve, new projects started to trickle in to the company. After the war, veterans returned home looking to take advantage of the G.I. Bill and the Servicemens Readjustment Act, which was signed into law by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on June 22, 1944. This bill provided veterans a number of services including low-cost mortgages and low interest rate loans. The housing market skyrocketed and new homes were in great demand. The company benefitted from the surging economy. Further information regarding the Thomas B. Punshon Engineering Company for the decades immediately following Punshons death is scarce. In a special meeting of the board of directors called by president Walter S. Schmidt on December 20, 1954, it was determined that the companys plats and records could be considered fictitious assets. It was further stated that the 130records are old and the Company is paying on this item a tax which is too great for something that has served its purpose and now has no value. The board 131decided these records, surveys, plats, etc. be deleted from our assets and be destroyed, since the company has no further need or use for them and they are of no value.132Whatever the reasoning for this decision, it explains the gap in company records between July 1932 and January 1950. 6 A N E W E R A M I D - C E N T U R Y C H A N G E S The late 1950s to early 60s was a period of great transition for a group of individuals and three companies that would eventually integrate into the Thomas B. Punshon Engineering Company. Albert Smith, Virginia Hartman, and James S. Wald all played significant roles in this transition. On November 30, 1958, during a special meeting of the shareholders, three individuals purchased the entire property and assets of the Thomas B. Punshon Engineering Company: James S. Wald, Albert O. Wilson, and Arthur J. Reichart. The three paid $9,000 to acquire all of the Common Stock the same day. 133Also on this day, Albert I. Smith, who took over as president of the company after Punshons death, resigned from the company, along with 48