Cooper Union College - Cable Yearbook (New York, NY)

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BIRTH l-lE decade beTore The Tounding oT The Cooper Union in I859 was a momenTous one . F in The hisTory oT our counTry's growTh. From Mexico, we had iusT acquired 800,000 square miles oT new TerriTory whose developmenT was acceleraTed by The Tremendous inTlux oT popula- Tion due To The discovery oT gold in CaliTornia in l848. From less Than six Thousand miles oT railway, over ThirTy Thousand miles were laid by l86O. The counTry grew and prospered by leaps and bounds: America was TirsT beginning To Tap iTs enormous wealTh. From sea To sea and Trom The Rio Grande To The GreaT Lakes, people were engaged in Tishing, Tarming, i is ' '-i . mining, manuTacTuring and commerce. Accompanying The general developmenT OT The counTry, New York CiTy began To asserT iTselT as an indusTrial and culTural cenTer. STraTegically locaTed, This growing meTropolis aTTracTed people Trom all parTs oT The world. And iT was during This period, ThaT The TulTillmenT oT a liTeTime dream oT PeTer Cooper supplied The very necessary need oT a means oT educaTion To The working people oT This ciTy. l-lis own sTruggle Tor an educaTion made him acTually aware oT The culTural needs oT The indusTrial worker. l-le knew ThaT There was no adequaTe provision Tor This in The New York CiTy educaTional sysTem oT his Time. The Tounding oT The Cooper Union resulTed Trom his TervenT desire To aid oThers who were experiencing The same diTTiculTies he had encounTered. ln characTer and aTTiTude PeTer Cooper may besT be compared wiTh his greaT conTemporary Abraham Lincoln. BoTh were men who had aTTained Their sTanding in socieTy by Their own eTTorTs: boTh had a desire To obliTeraTe some oT The suTTerings oT Their Tellowmem Two greaT liberal minds similarly developed wiTh similar belieTs. From his own varied experimenTs in selT-educaTion, he organized his plans Tor This new polyfechnic insTiTuTe. ln his youTh he had learned much Trom a collecTion oT curiosiTies known as

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ProT. STarr, The circuiT's man is an appreciaTed lecTurer on The relaTion oT sTu- denT abiliTy To eTforT. Many hypoTheTical dollars and lives, endangered by hypo- TheTical carelessness, have been saved by The always cauTioning Mr. Fairburn Through- ouT The D.C. world and The E.E. labs. A.J.B. Tells oT The elecTrosTaTic volTmeTer which was senT To BosTon so many Times Tor repairs ThaT iT can make The Trip, alone! The SecreTary oT The Engineering EaculTy and ProTessor EmeriTus oT Civil Engin- eering is ProT. Foss who, despiTe his age, leads an acTive life which abounds wiTh Travel, color phoTography, and improvemenTs on his Maine home. l-leading The C.E. DeparTmenT is ProT. Brumfield who was chairman oT The CommiTTee on EXTra-Curricular AcTiviTies. l-le regales his men wiTh The remark, l-low now, broTher scholars, and well They need regaling Tor his TorTe is sTaTically indeTerminaTe sTrucTures. The non-C.E.'s are inTroduced To This subiecT by Mr. Van Buren who has an excellenT collecTion oT perTinenT anecdoTes. This alumnus has a sTack oT exam papers This Thick when he graduaTed-way back when The C.E.'s goT less Mech OT MaT. Than The nighT Ch.E.'s geT now, and +ha+ is Ii++Ie enough. His sTouT hearT was sTung by The unscrupulous and oTherwise ignoranT ouT-world, and so he came back To Tell The currenT crop abouT his own innocenT errors. The champion symbologisT oT Cooper Union is noT a maThemaTics or physics pedagogue, buT Mr. J. P. J. Williams, The philosopher oT The C.E. deparTmenT. One oT his books brisTles so wiTh symbols ThaT iT requires six pages OT symbol deTiniTions. The lanky Mr. Perez will Tor someTime be Tamous Tor his laboraTory comparisons oT The NaTional and American League balls. ln The class room he was quiTe conTenT To be a champion chalk-caTcher. Perhaps The mosT Tamiliar Tigure in The supporTing courses is Dr. ManTz who is Tar Trom being as presumpTuous as TirsT impressions indicaTe, Tor his broadmindedness is greaTly admired by his economics sTudenTs. His relaTives included greaT men- an uncle TasTed The earTh in The sarcophagus of Ramses ll, his grandTaTher leTT him ouT oT his will and Thus induced Dr. ManTz To become a Teacher. I5

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Scudder's museum. Thus he ThOughT ThaT a similar museum would serve in raising The culTural sTandards OT his sTudenT body. He had even gone To The pains OT pur- chasing Tor The proposed collecTion a huge whale which had driTTed ashore in Long Island. However he was prevailed upon by his advisers TO modiTy This idea, and The whale was presenTed To The Museum OT NaTural HisTory where iT remained in The Oceanic Hall unTil I935. While some OT his plans were impracTical The general idea and purpose OT The insTiTuTiOn gradually Took shape. Thus, The cornersTOne OT The Cooper Union was laid in The early parT OT l854. The Type OT consTrucTion ThaT was planned was novel aT ThaT Time: iT was To be The TirsT TireprooT building uTilizing wroughT iron beams. BeTore Then, TireproOT buildings were consTrucTed OT heavy sTone which Took up much space and gave The inTerior a Torbidding appearance. The adverTisemenT This new Type OT consTrucTiOn received induced Colonel James Harper, whose publishing house had iusT burned down, TO order similar ones Tor The new Harper Building To be puT up aT CliTT STreeT and Franklin Square. The consTrucTiOn OT Cooper Union was delayed in Order ThaT The Tirm OT Cooper and HewiTT could roll beams Tor Colonel Harper. However, by ChrisTmas OT I856, The building was almosT cOmpleTed. The ToTal cosT was S630,000 and The Tounder gave an addiTional 530,000 Tor equipment As an example OT The vision and pracTical make-up OT PeTer Cooper, he leTT room in The building Tor an elevaTor, despiTe The TacT ThaT no really workable elevaTor had yeT been invenTed. This biT OT ToresighT which occurred Three-quarTers OT a cenTury ago is Typical OT The heriTage OT our insTiTuTiOn. lTs curriculum and iTs organ- izaTion ThroughOuT The many years OT exisTence has been conTinuOusly changing To meeT The requiremenT OT indusTry and Thereupon is iTs success as a pioneer educaTional insTiTuTion. The acT passed by The sTaTe legislaTure in Albany on February I7, I857 was To enable PeTer Cooper To Tound a ScienTiTic lnsTiTuTiOn in The CiTy OT New York. An amendmenT passed in l859 seT up six TrusTees To hold oTTice Tor liTe and To be selT- perpeTuaTing. The six were PeTer Cooper, Edward Cooper, Abram S. HewiTT, Daniel F. Tiemann, John E. Parsons and Wilson G. HunT. The TrusTees in laying down The principles upon which The school was To be operaTed expressed The Tollowing in The FirsT Annual ReporT: FirsT, ThaT The deTails OT The lnsTiTuTiOn in all The DeparTmenTs should be arranged wiTh especial reTerence To The inTellecTual wanTs and imprOvemenTs OT The working classes. And: second ThaT as Tar as mighT be consisTenT wiTh The TirsT principle, all in reTerence wiTh The plans or ObiecTs OT OTher exisTing insTiTuTiOns in This ciTy should be avoided. In a leTTer accompanying The deed OT TrusT To The TrusTees, PeTer Cooper expressed ThaT IT is my desire ThaT The sTudenTs shall have The use OT one OT The large rooms Tor The purpose OT useTul debaTe. The DebaTes were mainly To concern Themselves wiTh The causes ThaT OperaTe around and wiThin us, and The means necessary and mosT appropriaTe To remove The physical and moral evils ThaT aTTecT our ciTy, our cOunTry, and humaniTy. ln The Fall OT I859, classes were opened Tor enrOllmenT, and PeTer Cooper's dream Took shape. I 7