COOPER
COOPER
\rhich he purchased with its stock and buildings
on a lease of twenty one years. Here he pro-
duced glue, oil, whiting, prepared chalk and
isinglass. At the expiration of his lease he pur-
chased ten acres of land at Maspeth, L.I., where
he erected extensive glue works which proved
very profitable. In 1828 he purchased 3000 acres
of land wiiliin the city limits of Baltimore and
constructed thereon the Canton iron works. He
built a steam locomotive engine after liis own
design in 1830, the first practical steam locomo-
tive engine entirely constructed on the western
continent. It was put into practical use on the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad and its timely intro-
duction saved that road from threatened bank-
ruptcy, and gave to Mr. Cooper the credit of
being the pioneer in the application of steam to
American railways. He sold his Baltimore prop-
erty, a portion to the Abbott iron company and
the balance to what became the Canton iron
•companj% taking liis pay in stock at §44 a share,
which he subsequently sold at §230 a share. He
returned to New York where he erected an iron
foundry which he changed into a rolling mill,
using anthi'acite coal, and made iron wire for the
use of the telegraph, in which invention he was
interested. In 1845 he built three blast furnaces
in Phillipsburg, Pa., and in order to control the
manufacture purchased the Andover iron mines,
connected the mines with the furnaces by a
railroad over a mountainous country, a dis-
tance of eight miles, and used 40,000 tons of ore
per year. This plant became the Ironton iron
works and produced the first wrought iron beams
used in building. He then organized the Trenton
iron works, including rolling mills, blast furnaces,
a wire factory and 11,000 acres of land known as
the Ringwood property. His interest in teleg-
raphy in its earliest stages encouraged its pro-
jectors and when the Atlantic cable was
introduced he was the first and only president of
the New York, Newfoundland and London tele-
graph company, and advanced to the company
large sums of money at a time when the project
was ridiculed by capitalists and the company had
xio credit except the backing of its president.
For twelve years he held up the concern and
then the stock placed on the market at $50 per
share was all taken by an English company at
^90 a share. He was a city alderman, a member
of the common council, a trustee of the public
school society and a school commissioner. He
invented a machine for grinding plate of any size
to a perfect plane; a cylindrical machine for
puddling iron and reducing ore and pig metals to
wrought iron, and a device for using condensed
air as a propelling power. He devoted careful
thought and study to questions of finance and
good government and made his views widely
known, especially on the subject of currency and
the duty of the government to provide cheap
money. This theory brought him in sympathy
with the Greenback party and when the inde-
pendent national convention was held in 1876,
Mr. Cooper was nominated as its candidate for
President of the United States. At the general
election in November. 1876, he polled 81,740 pop-
ular votes. He chose to be his own executor and
his wealth was distributed under his personal
direction, while he witnessed the results of his
beneficence. His own lack of liberal education
induced him to provide for the class of which he
^vas as a boy and young man a member. With
this end in view he directed the policy of the
public school system of New York citj' as far as
his authority as a trustee and commissioner
extended, and in 1859 he completed the great
monument to his memory, " The Cooper Union
for the advancement of science and art," at a
cost of §630,000 and further sums between 1859
and 1882 aggre-
gating §1,603,- ■^^
614.17, expend-
ed by trustees
in enlarging
the institution
and rendering ?;;
it more effect-
ive. The design
of the projector
and benefactor
was to devote
the institution
" to the instruc-
tion and im-
provement of
the inhabitants
of the United
States in practical science and art, including in- struction in branches of knowledge by which men and women earn their daily bread ; in laws of health and improvement of sanitary conditions of families as well as individuals ; in social and political science, whereby communities and na- tions advance in virtue, wealth and power; and finally in matters which affect the eye, the ear, and the imagination, and furnish a basis for recreation to the working classes." Free lec- tures, free reading rooms and free galleries of art with free instruction in the arts of design, by which both men and women can gain a liveli- hood, were established and maintained. There was also pi'ovision made for a free polytechnic school as soon as the funds were sufficient for the purpose. Mr. Cooper in his will left a further endowment of §100,000 and his children added to it from his bequest to them §100.000 addi- tional. The one hundredth anniversary of the
THE COOPER UNION.
