Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/400

 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.