Both groups took their name from Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729), the British industrial pioneer whose invention of the atmospheric steam engine in 1712 led to the first practical use of such a device: lifting water out of mines.

[2] Its declaration of purpose was to: Established soon after the ascent of communism in the Soviet Union, The Newcomen Society in North America championed American capitalism, material civilization, and entrepreneurship.

But the English and American branches together counted only 323 members in 1933, the year leadership for The Newcomen Society in North America went to its co-founder and Loree's friend, Charles Penrose, Sr. (1886–1958).

[2] In the late 1940s, Penrose built the society's headquarters on Newcomen Road in rural Exton, Pennsylvania, complete with a 2,700 volume library and museum, featuring a range of antique model steam engines operated by hand cranking or electricity.

Designed by the Philadelphia architect Briton Martin (1899–1983), the campus had offices, guest houses, and a printing shop for Newcomen Publications, Inc., which Penrose founded to produce the society's corporate and academic histories, distinctive booklets illustrated with a mix of commissioned and antique engravings.

[2] At Seapoint Beach in Kittery Point, Maine, the society maintained a summer retreat with guest cottages in Tudor style.

Penrose appeared to know personally the top executives of every major company in the United States, and by charisma and will, made Newcomen an important part of their lives.