History
The first handful of American Mensa members joined between 1951 and 1959. They were mostly expatriated Britons or Americans who had learned about Mensa while visiting England. One such American was a reporter named John Wilcock, who attended a Mensa meeting while visiting England. He returned and wrote a column about Mensa for The Village Voice.
Peter A. Sturgeon, a medical writer in Brooklyn, fortuitously read that article, wrote to the Mensa Selection Agency on Mar. 8, 1960, and became a member as of that May.
The founding meeting took place on Sept. 30, 1960, at the Brooklyn home of Peter and Ines Sturgeon. Four other members attended. By 1963, the organization had grown to 1,000 members. By its 40th anniversary, American Mensa had approximately 47,000 members, and its headquarters soon moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Arlington, Texas. In August 1960, Peter was authorized to start forming a New York City regional group and was sent the list of the 22 Mensans in the United States. This group was the first outside Britain to be recognized and has since evolved into American Mensa, Ltd.
