page_title: Ezra Cornell
section_title: Cornell University
hierarchical_section_title: Ezra Cornell / Cornell University
caption_attribution_description: 5. SOUTH ELEVATION FROM SOUTHWEST. Cornell University, Llenroc, 100 Cornell Avenue, Ithaca, Tompkins County, NY
context_page_description: Ezra Cornell was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder of Western Union, founder of Ithaca's first library, and a co-founder of Cornell University. He also served as President of the New York Agriculture Society and as a New York State Senator.
context_section_description: A lifelong enthusiast of science and agriculture, he saw great opportunity in the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act to found a university that would teach practical subjects on an equal basis with the classics favored by more traditional institutions. Andrew Dickson White helped secure the new institution's status as New York's land grant university, and Cornell University was granted a charter through their efforts in 1865.
  Lands granted by the Morrill Act to universities in states without substantial federal land could be claimed in states having a large surplus of unclaimed land. Cornell University's endowment was based on Ezra Cornell's judicious investment in federal land, especially timber land in Wisconsin. Unlike most land grant universities, which sold their land immediately, under Ezra's leadership Cornell managed and maintained its land for an extended period, selling it only at the most opportune time. The university was able to reap an unprecedented $5 million endowment as a result.
caption: Llenroc, home of Ezra Cornell
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