Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper

Peter Fennimore Cooper (February 12, 1791–April 4, 1883) was an American industrialist, inventor and philanthropist.

History

Cooper was born on Febuary 12, 1791 in New York City, the son of Dutch descendents. He had little formal schooling and worked in the family trade of hatmaking. He then worked as a coachmaker's apprentice, cabinet maker, grocer and was involved in the manufacturing and selling of cloth-shearing machines.

Industry

In about 1828 he started a successful glue and isinglass factory, before building the Canton Iron Works near Baltimore in 1830. There he manufactured the first steam powered railroad locomotive made in America, which was called Tom Thumb. The engine ran successfully on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on August 28 1830.

He then erected a rolling mill and an iron mill in New York City, where he was the first to successfully use anthracite coal to puddle iron. In 1845, he moved his machinery to Trenton, New Jersey where he built the largest rolling-mill in the United States for producing railroad iron. There, in 1854 he oversaw the production of the first structural wrought iron beams.

Politics

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Original Building

In 1840 he became an alderman in New York City. As a prosperous businessman, he conceived of the idea of having a free institute in New York, similar to the Polytechnic Institute in Paris. He erected a building and endowed art schools, spending between $600,000 and $700,000, for preparing young men and women of the working classes for business. In 1858 he presented the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art to the City of New York.

In 1854, Cooper was one of five men who met at the house of Cyrus W. Field and formed the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company. He was among those supervising the laying of the first Transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858. He also patented instant gelatin, which later became better known by the brand name Jello.

Prior to the Civil War, Cooper was active in the anti-slavery movement and promoted the application of Christian concepts to solve social injustice. He was a strong supporter of the Union cause during the American Civil War and an advocate of the government issue of paper money.

Philanthropist, inventor and industralist

Influenced by the writings of Lydia Child, Cooper became involved in the Indian reform movement, organizing the privately funded United States Indian Commission. This organization, whose members included William E. Dodge and Henry Ward Beecher, was dedicated to the protection and elevation of Native Americans and the elimination of warfare in the western territories. Cooper's efforts led to the formation of the Board of Indian Commissioners, which oversaw Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy. Between 1870 and 1875, Cooper sponsored Indian delegations to Washington D.C., New York City, and other Eastern cities. These delegations met with Indian right's advocates and addressed the public on United States Indian policy. Speakers included: Red Cloud, Little Raven and Alfred B. Meacham and a delegation of Modoc and Klamath Indians.

Presidential candidacy

Cooper was encouraged to run in the 1876 presidential election for the Greenback Party without any hope of being elected. The campaign cost more than $25,000.

Election was won by Rutherford Birchard Hayes of the Republican Party. Cooper was surpassed by another unsuccesful candidate: Samuel Jones Tilden of the Democratic Party

External links

• Brief biography
• Find-A-Grave profile for Peter Cooper