Townsend Harris High School - Crimson Gold Yearbook (Flushing, NY)

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TOWNSEND HARRIS , the earliest American relations with apan may be prop ,wi erly regarded as the founder of the City College This was OXYNSEND HARRIS, whose name historically suggests C . . C . . J C 7 g bb - publicly acknowledged when the first new college building to be erected received the name of Townsend Harris Hall. The third day of October, 1804, brought forward a man destined to be a potent factor in the advancement of public education and an eminent statesman in the diplomatic field. This man was Townsend Harris. Reared in a simple family at Sandy Hill in Vilash- ington County, N. I., Townsend Harris was imbued with all the decent, honest and home-like qualities of a country youth. Until he reached the age of thirteen years he was influenced and guided by the prudent and sagacious teachings of his dearly beloved mother, whose word was his Gospel. An ordinary public school training was the only formal education Townsend Harris ever received. Although he never entered a uni- versity, he fully acquainted himself with the Romance Languages and gained a substantial knowledge of wholesome, instructive literature. This learning he acquired, unaided, by determined effort during spare hours in his commercial life. In 1817, Townsend Harris, just in his teens, but with all the ambi- tion and grit of a lighter, settled in New York City to carve out his career. Little did he realize then how important a personage he would be to two of the great powers of the world to-day. For several years after he reached New York, Townsend worked conscientiously in the employ of a friend of his father's and gained a thorough knowl- edge of the dry goods trade. Thus he acquired the necessary experi- ence and the fundamental training in business to enable him to enter into partnership a few years later with his own father and brother. The new business in which Harris engaged was of a somewhat different nature from his former commercial experience. The Harris family had invested its fortune in an importing concern. Its principal products, china and earthenware, were imported from the East, a commerce which later resulted in Mr. Harris' voyage to Japan. VVhile he was thus engaged in business, he gained prominence through election to the Board of Education. The following year, 1847, he was elected president of that body. In all the years of his

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MR. 'IOWNSEND HARRI S

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l6 THE HARRIS ANNUAL sojourn in New York, Mr. Harris contemplated founding a free academy for boys. His perseverance and untiring efforts were truly auspicious. On Mr. Harris' motion, a committee was appointed july 27, l846, to report upon a plan for the academy. This took definite shape under a legislative act of May 7, 1847. Finally the people of New York in the school and judicial election of june, l847, voted to estab- lish the present institution, which was at first called the 4'New York Free Academy. About this time the mother of Mr. Harris died, and he, being a bachelor, left New York for San Francisco, where he purchased a half interest in a trading vessel bound for the East Indies. Meeting with continued success, Mr. Harris finally bought the entire stock of the trading company, and commenced his premeditated voyage around the world and back to New York, via the Orient. He reached his destination in 1855, at a time when the United States government sought closer connections with the East. Because of his thorough knowledge of the customs and civilization of the Eastern peoples, and owing to the influence of Secretary of State Marcy, a personal friend, Mr. Harris was commissioned by the Federal Gov- ernment to act as Consul General to japan. NVe have already men- tioned how intimately he entered into the earliest American relations with japan. His humanitarian ideals, his combined legislative, ju- dicial, and executive ability, and his advocacy of commercial friend- ship were genuine factors in the advancement and progress of the Japanese Empire, and helped to lift japan to a prominent position among the nations of the world, by serving as a powerful stimulant in the development of Japan's commerce. Fully satisfied and convinced that he had faithfully and successfully executed his duty as Consul General, Mr. Harris returned to the United States during the Civil VVar. A Unionist at heart and in mind, he cordially approved of the action of the North. One of the most picturesque moments in the life of Mr. Harris occurred when he paid a public tribute to General U. S. Grant, to whom he presented on this occasion an exquisite japanese sword. In this and in many other ways, Mr. Harris acquired wide recognition for his private and public services. His devotion particularly to the cause of free public education has made him so conspicuous a Hgure in the history of New York that the college is proud to have his name engraved over the portals of Townsend Harris Hall.