Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-04-05
PETER COOPER DEAD.
The Story of the Great Philanthropist's :
Life Told in Brief Sketch.

INV AOhh3 ApE1l 4.-IeIeF Cooper
died of pneumonia at half-past three
O'Clock this morning. Mr.. Cooper cele
brated his 92d birthday February 10
when there was quite a social gathering
at his house. He had been ailing for some
time with slight cold, and on Sunday he
was compelled to remain in
his bed. His family physician was
at once summoned, and on his
arrival at once discovered that his patient
was suffering from a severe attack OF
pneumonia. Mr.. CoOper's advanced wears
We're great drawback to his recovery
About 2 2o'clock this morning he called his
son, ex-MayOr Cooper, and Airs. Abram S
Hewitt, his daughter, and her family, to
his bedside, saying to them that he knew
he had not long to live and that they must
become recOnciled to this fact. His death
occurred exactly at 3 O'Clock. He remain.
ed conscious up to the time of his demise
and made several remarks in regard to
family affairs
Hon. Peter Cooper was born in New
York city, February y, 1871. and lived a
life full of honOrs from his early boyhood.
John Campbell, his maternal grandfather,
was an Alderman of New York. and
Deputy Quartermaster General during
the revolutionary war, and expended a
vice OF his country. His father was a
Lieutenant in the war of the revolution
after the close of which he established a
hat mandatory. This period of Peter
CoOper's life was one of great anxiety and
hard labor, as his father was not success
full i'll his undertakings, and had
a large family to provide for.
He attended school only half of
each day for single year, and
hnVnnd InI fra IL,
acquisitions were entirely his own. At
the age of seventeen he was apprenticed
to the trade Of coach making, and served
out his time so much to the satisfaction
of his master that the latter offered to set
him up in business, which he declined.
He for some time followed his trade, next
engaged in the manufacture of patent
machines for shearing cloth, which were
in great demand during the war of 1872,
but lost all value on the declaration of
peace. Then i'll the manufacture of cabi-
net ware, then in the grocery busi-
ness in the city of New York, and
finally in the manufacture of glue
and iSinglaSS, which he carried on
for fifty years. His attention was called
early to the great resources of his cOun-
try for the manufacture of iron, and in
1880 he erected extensive works at Can
ton, near Baltimore. Disposing of these
wire mill in the city of New York in
which he first successfully applied an
thracite to the pudding of iron. In 1S45
he removed the machinery to Trenton, N.
j., where he erected the largest rolling
mill at that time in the United States for
the manufacture of railroad iron, and at
which subsequently he was the first to
roll wrought iron beams for fireproOf
buildings. The works have grown to
be very extensive, including mines, blast
furnaces, and water power, and are now
carried on by Mr.. COOper's family. While
in Baltimore he built after his own de-
signs the first locomotive engine con-
structed on this continent, and it was
used successfully on the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad. He took great interest in
the extension of the electric telegraph, in
which he invested a large capital. He
served in both branches of the New York
Common Council, and was a prominent
advocate of the construction of the Croton
aqueduct. His great object was to edu-
cate and elevate the industrial classes of
a trustee of the public school So
ciety, and at the time of
its being merged in the
Board of Education was it's Vice Presi-
dent. He subsequently became school
Commissioner, but feeling that no COM
mon school system could supply techno-
logical 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 further
ance of this object the ''Union for the
Advancement of Science and Art,'' COM
monty called the cooper Institute" was
erected in New York at the junction of
Third and Fourth avenues, between
Seventh and Eighth streets, covering the
entire block, at cost of over $780,
600, to which Mr.. Cooper has since
added an endowment of S15O.0OO in
cash. This building is devoted by a
deed of trust, with all its rents, issues and
profits, to the instruction and elevation of
the working classes of the CITY of New
York. The plan includes regular courses
of instruction at night, free to all who
choose to attend, on social and political
science, on the application of science to
the useful occupations of life, and in such
other branches of knowledge as will tend
to improve and elevate the working
classes. 1t includes also a school of de-
sign for females, now attended by two
hundred pupils, a free reading room and
library, resOrted to by about one thous-
and five hundred readers, galleries of art
collections of models of inventions
and a polytechnic school. The
evening schools are attended by
two thousand pupils, mostly young
mechanics, who study engineering, min
ing, metallurgy, analytic and synthetic
chemistry, architectural drawing and
practical building. There are also for
woman school of telegraphy, which in
fOur. years has sent out 307 operatives;
school of wood engraving and school of
photography, all of which are free and
are well attended. The schools employ
upward of thirty instructors. The re-
ceipts of the institute in 1872 from rents
and interest on endowment were about
$37 900, and the expenditures SOC, 900. Mr..
Cooper has been looked upon as the father
of the Greenback movement, and in 1876
ran on that ticket for President. Since that
year he has not been prominently before
the public except in philanthropic move
ments and on the recurrence of his birth
day anniversaries.