Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1883-04-12
DEATH OF PETER COOPER.
A Sketch Of his Leng, Busy and
Useful Life.

day on th. .'ebruary.
He had e=- - some time with
a slight colo. ma AN Sunday he wai
compelled - remain in bed. The family
physician was summoned. and he al
once discovered that his patient was
suffering frUm severe attack of pneu-
mOnia. Mr.. Cooper's advanced years
was great drawback TO his recovery
At about o'clock this morning he called
his son, ex-Mayor Cooper, and Mrs.
Abram s. Hewitt, his daughter, and her
family, to his bedside, saying to them
that he knew he had not long to live,
and they must become reconciled to the
fact. Death occurred exactly at a. N.
He remained conscious up to the time
of his demise, and made several remarks
in regard to family.
Peter Cooper was born in New York
City February u, 1901. His father was
a lieutenant in the revolutionary war,
after the close of which he established a
hat manufactory. He was almost inva-
riably unsuccessful in his business un-
dertakings, so that young Peter, who was
one of large family, was reared amid
plnching to the verge of poverty, and
early in life he became accustomed to
anxieties and hard labor. His entire
start In education consisted in attending
school the half of each day during one
year, and beyond the knowledge thus
gained his mental acquisitions were en-
tlrely his own. At the age of seventeen
he was apprenticed to coachmaker,
and at the close of his "time" his master
was so well satisfied with the service
rendered that he offered to set him up
in business-a proposition which, how
ever, was declined. For period he fol-
lowed this trade, but tabout the year 1912
engaged in the manufacture of machines
for shearing cloth, a c0ntrivance which
was in great demand during the war,
but lost all value when peace was de-
clared and uniforms for soldiers not
needed. In the latter part of 1914 he
embarked in cabinet making, then in the
grocery business, and finally in the man.
ufacture Of glue and isinglass, which he
conducted for an even half century,
During his successful business career
as producer of glue he engaged in other
enterprises, notably in the iron business
at Canton, near Baltimore Disposing
| of this plant, he erected rolling and
wire mill in the city of New York, in
which WAS first successfully applied an
thracite coal in the pudding of iron. 1t
was in 1S45 that he removed this plant
to Trenton, n. j., where he erected the
largest rolling mill at that time in the
United States for the rolling of rails 1t
Has- in this mill that were firss rolled
wrought iron beams for buildings. These
works have grown to be very extensive
and are still in Mr.. Cooper's family,
Congressman A. 5. Hewitt, his son-in
law, and his SOD, the ex-MayOr of New
York, having been at the head of the
management for many years.
While in Baltimore Peter Cooper built
after his own designs, the first locOmO-
tive engine constructed on this continent
which engine was used successfully on
the B. & o. Railroad. He took abiding
interest in the electric telegraph when
first meoted and invested largely in it's
extension.
He served in both branches of the New
York City Council, and was. d prominent
advocate of the construction of the Gro
ton aqueduct. His great object was to
educate and elevate the industrial classes
of the community. He early became
trustee of the public school society, and
at the time of its being merged in the
Board OF Education was its Vice Presi-
dent. He subsequently, became School
Commissioner, but feeling that no com
mon school system could supply tech
nical education, he determined to estab-
lish in his native city An institution in
which the working classes could secure
that instruction for which he, when
young and ambitious, sought in vain.
In furtherance of this object the Union
for the Advancement of Science and
Art" commonly called the Cooper In
stitute,' was erected in New York at the
junction of Third and Fourth avenues,
between Seventh and Eighth streets,
covering the entire block, at the cost of
over $650,000, to which Mr.. Cooper has
since added an endowment of $4,000
in cash. This building is devoted by a
deed of trust, with all its rents, issues
and profits, to the instruction and eleva-
tiOn of the working classes of the city of
New York. The plan includes regular
all who choose to attend, on social and
political science, on the application of |
science to the useful occupations of life, |
and on such other branches of knowledge !
as will tend to improve and elevate the |
working classes. 1t includes also school |
of design for females, now attended by |
200 pupils. free reading room and. Ii :
brary, resorted to by 1900 readers, gal |
leries of art, csllection of models of |
inventions, and polytechnic school. |
The evening schools are attended by |
1000 pupils, mostly young mechanics,
who study engineering, mining, metal
lurgy, analytic and synthetic chemistry,
architectural drawing and practical
building. There are also for women a
school of .telegraphy, which in four years
has sent out 307 operators, school of |
wood engraving, and school of photog-
raphy, all of which are free and are well |
attended. These schools employ upward |
of thirty instructors
A GOOd Word for fha RIooly No,