The New York herald., 1869-11-14
very successful venture and the grocery store was
atvta

/
Fortune whose strangely fantastic freaks have
i bewldered from time hnmemorial the brains OF the
all time to Come, now opened 20 N MI. Cooper the
pathway to more golden future. AS In the turning
| point OF nearly all men amassng large fortunes
ne struck INTO this unexpected pathway by what
/ some would call accident, but what he and others
| consider proyldentia. shaping OF the ends Of
to purchase tools for carving OF John vreeland. who
then Kept hardware store on the present site OF
| the door.
| "How is business y, asked Mr. vreeland.
"very good" answered Mr.. Cooper.
~ know OF chance where you can do much bet
| ter,o contiEled Mr.. Vreeand.
| "What is it9' further inquired Mr. Cooper.
sBuy out the glue factory on the old middle road"
..Does the owner want to sell IT."
81 was told so this mOrnlng.v
"Why does he want to seiiYti
1T has been badly managed, probably, and don't
II Will look after it.n said Mr.. Cooper.
The Old middle road was the present Fourth ave
IL now. Within half an hour Mr.. Cooper was talking
| with the proprietor Hall an hour later they had
on s i naa oa o the s
| ground became the property Of MI Cooper He at
once went into the business, He knew nothing
about Ii, except having learned as cOachmaker and
while ia the furniture business that the glue manu-
factured IN this country was very inferior article.
All the good glue came from ireland and cost three
times as much as that manufactured here. BY i'm
provenents IN the Ingredients and In making the
glue ne soon dId what he determined on doing "a
the outset furnished glue superior to the imported
article. The result was that he soon had the entire
trade IN his own hands. His sales were large, and
with large profits he rapidly Rmassed fortune. IN
connection with the manufacture or glue he also
manufactured singlass, bringing IL in competition
with the Russian islngass ana ln fact driving the
latter amost wholly out OF the market. Russian
islnglass then sold for Tour dollars O pound
whereas he sold it at seyenty-hve centsa pound:
The demand for islngass In refining liquors and
making jeies, and for other purposes, beng very
large ana he having the monopoly OF the trade the
profits from this branch OF the business were also
considerable lie renamed here twenty-five years,
when he built large manufactory on Maspeth ave-
nue., IN Williamsburg. About year after the latter
factory was built 1t was burned down. HIS losses
were S40,0OO. There was no insurance.
"Your factory was burned down last night,r mis-
foreman told niri ccs.,y c;.:.s IN the morning
stoas "sysrya'@Yg sa desr0yed-Ouildihs machinery
go over at once, engage a lot of carts ana have
the debris removed as last as possible" said Mr..
Cooper TO hlm. "and will hurry over some work
men ana lumber to put up new building right
away"
by nine O'Clock there was lumber on the ground,
rae factory neT which IS so feet
long ana altogether nearly three times large as
the former building As sttl standing. and the
facture OF glue In large ana successful operation.
He made here the bulk Of hls fortune, Although the
business is still conducted IN his name, he has de-
rived no profits from 1t FOR several years, having
given the management and profits to his cni., .,ren
and nephews WHO now conduct 1t:
HIS IRON BUSINESS
An important If not chief auxiary to the accumu-
lation o. Mr. CoOper's fortune has been his extern
slve manufacture ana trade in iron He first built
the Canton Iron Works IN Baltimore. A long story
might be told In reference to this enterprise but we
will make 1t very brief. lie was drawn into 1t early
III his business life: Two men who claimed to pos
sess large capital offered him one third interest In
1900 acres OF land IN Baltimore. He paid III $l05 900
and found that neither Of the her parties had paid
draw and built the Canton Iron Works on portion
| OF the ground 1t proved loss to him. His great
iron works are as Is well known al Trenton, N. J.
He flrst however, built some iron works In Thirty
third street, near Fourth avenue, put continued the
business here only two or three years. His Trenton
iron works have been In operation for the last twenty
years. He expended $4,000 for machinery for rolling
beams. lie also built three large blast furnaces at
Pmlipsburg, Pa and bought the Durham furnaces,
twenty five miles from Trenton, all OF which are now
In successful operation. He paid for the latter
p eTh mes as Eae ona peus ans ~
very rough country. 1t was wholly q private enter
prise. not only building the road but putting on the
| locomotives and other rolling stobk. In his glue
factory. iron works and mining ore ne employed
| over $500 workmen. And this is not all During
there has never been failure IN their prompt pay
| ment We should mention that ne also owns large
We VIII not enlarge on this topic further, only say
that ne Ii not only one OF the largest IRON manulac
turers In this country, but that Ills revenue from this
branch OF trade has been prOportionately large.
THE COOPER UNION.
Through all the years OF assidu0us labor and con-
referred, Mr.. Cooper was inspired with one nope hope
and one determination. This hope and this de.
thoughts by day. They were ere the siipervadiag
subject OF his dreams by night They were the
institution that would help supply the want Of edu
| cation to poor young men and poor young women,
| and the determination to do so soon as he had
| acquired the necessary means Long before any
dreamed Of his high resolve he fixed In his mind
the locality and with this view kept buying the lots
and buildings on which the Cooper Institute s now
| built Sixteen years ago he commenced to build.
At the end of five years the building was completed.
tions-having front Of 1876 feet on Third avenue,
lao feet on Eighth street. 1e5 feet on Fourth avenue
| OF Its expansive brown stone facades, the
plan. but becoming and imposing style
the Goth Of April, 1862 he gave deed OF tue pro-
perty to the trustees named in the act Of ncorpora
and purpose OF this gift, and as showing something
higher and nobler than the mere spontaneiy of the
gift we cannot do better than quote the opening and
| closing sentences of Mr.. Coopers letter to the
| trustees accompanying the trust "it is to me
Cooper in his opening sentence. latter 30 many.
many years OF continued effort to place In your
bonned the west BY Fd so O on
north by Astor place, on the east by Third avenue
and on the south by seventh street. with ali the
nture rents and income of every name and nature,
to be forever devoted to the advancement OF science
aud art In their application to the varied and
! closing sentence:-"Please accept my heartfelt
assurance Of sincere desire that under your care
It's halls to learn those lessons Of wisdom so much
needed to guide the nexperlence OF youth amid the
dangers TO Whlcn they are at all times exposed
| These sentences tell the whole story. No better
| eulogy OF this grand charity can ne written. The
building cost s6sa,ooo. Mr.. Cooper gave 500 in
money besides when he gave away the building, so
| tnat there might be no running into debt He has
contributed various sums from time to time since
and only recently gave $40 600 to furnish 1t with
museum. Altogether in the original GIFT and subse
quent donations he has expended about sO0 o00 The
beneficial results thus far accomplished by the ins-
tuition are inestimabe. During the past year there
were 20 915 visitors to the reading room aud library
| The supply Of newspapers and periodicals is very
complete, comprising % New York city daily papers,
20 daies from other leading cties European daily
| weekly papers; 4s American, 81 British 13 German
| French and Italian monfhles and quarteres
making total OF 275 periodical publications reg
ularly filed for the use OF visitors Every one
comes In unquestioned and passes out the same
/ where the New York daltes filed, where they