For his work on etherification Williamson in 1862 received a Royal medal from the Royal Society, of which he became a fellow in 1855, and which he served as foreign secretary from 1873 to 1889.
Williamson showed how alcohol and ether were to be regarded as derived from water by substituting one or both hydrogen atoms by the ethyl group; he derived acids and the acid anhydrides from the same type; and from a comparison of many inorganic and the simple organic compounds he concluded that this notion of a " water-type " clarified, in no small measure, the conception of the structure of compounds.
These views were extended by William Odling, and adopted by Gerhardt, but with modifications of Williamson's aspects.
The city has, besides, numerous fine office buildings, including that of the Society for Savings (an institution in which each depositor is virtually a stockholder), the Citizens', Rose, Williamson, Rockefeller, New England and Garfield buildings; and several beautiful churches, notably the Roman Catholic and Trinity cathedrals, the First Presbyterian ("Old Stone"), the Second Presbyterian, the First Methodist and Plymouth (Congregational) churches.
The Williamson artisan school is entirely supported by an endowment.
