Peter Cooper was born in New York, on the 12th of February, 1791. His
maternal grandfather, John Campbell, was Mayor of New York and Deputy
Quartermaster General during the Revolution, and his father was a
lieutenant in the Continental army. After the return of peace,
Lieutenant Cooper resumed his avocation as a hatter, in which he
continued until his death. It required close attention to business and
hard work to make a living in those days, and as soon as young Peter was
old enough to pick the fur from the rabbit skins which were used in
making hats, he was set to work. He had no opportunity to go to school.
"I have never had any time to get an education," he once said, "and all
that I know I have had to pick up as I went along." He continued in the
hat trade until he had thoroughly mastered it, and afterwards became a
brewer, pursuing this trade for two years, at the end of which time he
apprenticed himself to a coachmaker. Upon completing his term at this
trade, he engaged with his brother in the cloth-shearing business, and
continued in it until the general introduction of foreign cloths, after
the War of 1812, made it unprofitable. He then became a cabinet maker,
but soon after opened a small grocery store on the present site of the
Cooper Institute.
With his savings he purchased a woollen factory, which he conducted
successfully, and some time after this, enlarged his operations by
manufacturing glue. In 1830 he erected large iron works at Canton, one
of the suburbs of Baltimore, and he subsequently carried on extensive
iron and wire works at Trenton, New Jersey. The greater part of his
fortune has been gained by the manufacture of iron and glue. He was the
first person to roll wrought iron beams for fire-proof buildings, and
soon after opening his Baltimore works, he manufactured there, from his
own designs, the first locomotive ever made in America. He has been
interested in various enterprises, the majority of which have proved
successful, and has shown a remarkable capacity for conducting a number
of entirely different undertakings at the same time. He is now very
wealthy, and has made every dollar of his fortune by his own unaided
exertions. He resides in a handsome mansion in Grammercy Park, but lives
simply and without ostentation.
He does not enjoy the marked respect and popularity of which he never
fails to receive hearty evidences when he appears in public, because of
his success alone. He is one of the principal benefactors of the city,
and has placed the whole community under heavy obligations to him by his
noble gift to the public of the Cooper Institute, which institution has
been described in another chapter.
He conceived the idea of this institution more than forty years ago, and
long before he was able to carry it out. Having been much impressed with
a description of the _Ecoles d'Industrie_ of Paris, he was resolved that
his native city should have at least one similar institution. As soon as
he felt able to do so, he began the erection of the Cooper Institute.
The entire cost was borne by him, and the actual outlay exceeded the
estimate upon which he had begun the work by nearly thirty thousand
dollars. He had many obstacles, mechanical, as well as pecuniary, to
overcome, and when the building was completed and paid for, he found
himself comparatively a poor man. Almost every dollar of his fortune had
been expended upon his great gift to the working men and women of New
York. He persevered, however, and his Institute began the career of
usefulness which it has since pursued.
Since then he has prospered to a greater extent than ever, and has
acquired a large fortune. He has taken an active part in the extension
of the telegraph interests of the country, and is now a stockholder and
an officer in the Atlantic Cable Companies. He is very popular among all
classes of citizens, and his appearance at public meetings is always
greeted with applause.
[Picture: PETER COOPER.]
Mr. Cooper is of medium height, and is rather thin in person. He has a
profusion of silvery white hair, and wears his beard under his chin, with
the lip and chin clean shaven. His large gold spectacles give a peculiar
expression to his eyes, which are small and gray. His face is sharp and
thin, and very intelligent, and one of the most thoroughly amiable and
benevolent countenances to be met with in New York. It is emphatically
the face of a good man.