Ezra Cornell | |
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1st Chairman of Cornell Board of Trustees | |
In office 1866–1874 | |
Succeeded by | Henry W. Sage |
Member of the New York Senate from the 24th district | |
In office January 1,1864 –December 31,1867 | |
Preceded by | Lyman Truman |
Succeeded by | Orlow W. Chapman |
Member of the New York State Assembly from the Tompkins County district | |
In office January 1,1862 –December 31,1863 | |
Preceded by | Jeremiah W. Dwight |
Succeeded by | Henry B. Lord |
Personal details | |
Born | Westchester Landing,The Bronx,New York,U.S. | January 11,1807
Died | December 9,1874 67) Ithaca,New York,U.S. | (aged
Political party | Republican |
Signature | ![]() |
Ezra Cornell ( /kɔːrˈnɛl/ ;January 11,1807 –December 9,1874) was an American businessman,politician,academic,and philanthropist. He was the founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University. He also served as president of the New York Agriculture Society [1] and as a New York State Senator.
Cornell was born in Westchester Landing at what is now 1515 Williamsbridge Road [2] in The Bronx in New York City to Elijah Cornell and Eunice (Barnard),a potter. He was raised near DeRuyter,New York. [3] He was a cousin of Paul Cornell,the founder of Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. He was also related to Ezekiel Cornell,a Revolutionary War general who represented Rhode Island in the Second Continental Congress from 1780 to 1782, [4] and was a distant relative of William Cornell,who was an early settler from Rhode Island.
Cornell's earliest American patrilineal ancestor,Thomas Cornell (1595–1655),was a Puritan and a follower of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson before finally embracing Quakerism,the religion of Thomas Cornell's descendants. [5] [6]
Cornell initially pursued a career in carpentry and traveled extensively throughout New York State in the profession. Upon first setting eyes on Cayuga Lake and Ithaca,New York in the spring of 1828,he decided that Ithaca would be his future home.
Cornell was hired as a mechanic by Otis Eddy to work at his cotton mill on Cascadilla Creek. On Eddy's recommendation,Jeremiah S. Beebe then hired Cornell to repair and overhaul his plaster and flour mills on Fall Creek. During Cornell's long association with Beebe,he designed and built a tunnel for a new mill race on Fall Creek,a stone dam on Fall Creek (which formed Beebe Lake),and a new flour mill. By 1832,Cornell was placed in charge of all Beebe's concerns at Fall Creek. [7]
In 1831,Cornell married Mary Ann Wood in Dryden,New York. The young and growing family needed more income than he could earn as manager of Beebe's mills,so Cornell purchased rights in a patent for a new type of plow and began decades of traveling away from Ithaca. His territories for sales of the plow included the states of Maine and Georgia. He sold in Maine in the summer and the milder Georgia in the winter.
In 1842,Cornell happened into the offices of the Maine Farmer,where he saw an acquaintance,F.O.J. Smith,bent over some plans for a "scraper" as Smith called it. For services rendered,Smith had been granted a one-quarter share of the telegraph patent held by Samuel Morse,and was attempting to devise a way of burying the telegraph lines in the ground in lead pipe. [8] Cornell devised a special kind of plow that would dig a 2 feet 6 inches (76 cm) ditch,lay the pipe and telegraph wire in the ditch,and cover it back up. It was later learned that condensation in the pipes and poor insulation of the wires impeded the electric current on the wires,so hanging the wire from telegraph poles became the accepted method.
Cornell made his fortune in the telegraph business as an associate of Samuel Morse. Cornell constructed and strung the poles for the Baltimore–Washington telegraph line,the first telegraph line of substance in the U.S. To address the problem of telegraph lines shorting out,Cornell invented using glass insulators at the point where telegraph lines are connected to supporting poles. After joining with Morse,Cornell supervised the development of many telegraph lines,including a portion of the New York,Albany &Buffalo line in 1846 and the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company,which connected Buffalo to Milwaukee along with his partners John James Speed and Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith. Cornell,Speed,and Smith also built the New York and Erie line,which competed with and paralleled the New York,Albany and Buffalo line in which Morse had a major share. [9] The line was completed in 1849 and Cornell was made president of the company.
In 1848,Cornell's sister,Phoebe,married Martin B. Wood and moved to Albion,Michigan. Cornell gave Wood a job constructing new lines and made Phoebe his telegraph operator,the first woman operator in the U.S. [10]
Cornell earned a substantial fortune when the Erie and Michigan line was consolidated with Hiram Sibley and his New York and Mississippi Company formed the Western Union company. [11] Cornell received $2 million in Western Union stock. [12]
Cornell was a Republican member of the New York State Assembly representing Tompkins County in 1862 and 1863 and a member of the New York State Senate from 1864 to 1867,where he served in the 87th,88th,89th,and 90th New York State Legislatures.
Cornell retired from Western Union and turned his attention to philanthropy. He endowed the Cornell Free Library,the first public library for the citizens of Ithaca. [13] The library was incorporated on April 5,1864,and was formally presented to the town on December 20,1866. [14] The original library building stood at the corner of Tioga and Seneca street until it was demolished in 1960. [15] The library evolved over time to serve the county as the Tompkins County Public Library. [14]
To honor the 150th anniversary of his gift,a mural of Ezra Cornell was hung on the exterior wall of the current Tompkins County Public Library in October,2016. [16]
A lifelong enthusiast of science and agriculture,he saw great opportunity in the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Acts 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 founded and granted a charter through their efforts in 1865.
Cornell University derived far greater revenues than earlier land grant colleges,largely from real estate transactions directed by Ezra Cornell. Under the land-grant program,the federal government issued the colleges scrip,documents granting the right to select a parcel of land. [17] These colleges generally promptly sold their scrip. Ezra Cornell,however,held most of the scrip,anticipating it would increase in price. [18] He also redeemed some scrip for promising land or for rights in timber,including pine forest in Wisconsin. [19] While the first land-grant colleges received around half a dollar per acre,Cornell netted an average of over $5 per acre in 1905. [20] [21] Because of these timber holdings,the town of Cornell,Wisconsin,is named for Cornell.
Cornell entered the railroad business,but fared poorly due to the Panic of 1873. [22] He began construction of a palatial Ithaca mansion,Llenroc,whose name was Cornell spelled in reverse,to replace his farmhouse,but died before it was completed. Llenroc was maintained by Cornell's heirs for several decades until being sold to Cornell University's chapter of the Delta Phi fraternity,which occupies it to this day;Forest Park,Cornell's farmhouse,was sold to Cornell University's Delta Tau Delta fraternity chapter but was later demolished.
A prolific letter writer,Cornell corresponded with a great many people and would write dozens of letters each week. This was due partly to his wide traveling and also to the many business associates he maintained during his years as an entrepreneur and later as a politician and university founder. Cornell University has made the approximately 30,000 letters in the Cornell Correspondence available online.[ citation needed ]
Ezra Cornell was a birthright Quaker,but was later disowned by the Society of Friends for marrying outside the faith to a "world's woman",Mary Ann Wood,a Methodist,on March 19,1831.
On February 24,1832,Cornell wrote the following response to his expulsion from The Society of Friends due to his marriage:"I have always considered that choosing a companion for life was a very important affair and that my happiness or misery in this life depended on the choice." he died in 1874.
Cornell is interred in Sage Chapel on Cornell's campus along with Daniel Willard Fiske and Jennie McGraw. Cornell was originally laid to rest in Ithaca City Cemetery in Ithaca and later then moved to Sage Chapel.
His eldest son,Alonzo B. Cornell,was later governor of New York. Since its founding,the university's charter specified that the eldest lineal descendant of Cornell is granted a life seat on Cornell University's board of trustees, [23] currently Charles Ezra Cornell. (Charles Ezra Cornell took the post on November 17,1969.) [24]
In 1990,G. David Low,graduate of Cornell University and Space Shuttle astronaut,took with him into outer space a pair of tan silk socks worn by Ezra Cornell on his wedding day in 1831. [25]
Ithaca is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County,New York,United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York,Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named after the Greek island of Ithaca. As of 2020,the city's population was 32,108.
The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally owned land,often obtained from Native American tribes through treaty,cession,or seizure. The Morrill Act of 1862 was enacted during the American Civil War,and the Morrill Act of 1890 expanded this model.
Trumansburg is a village in Tompkins County,New York,United States. The population was 1,797 at the 2010 census. The name incorporates a misspelling of the surname of the founder,Abner Treman. The Tremans spelled their surname several different ways;"Truman," however,was not one of them. The village's application for a post office established the present spelling. The Village of Trumansburg is located within the Town of Ulysses and is northwest of Ithaca,New York.
Andrew Dickson White was an American historian and educator who co-founded Cornell University,one of eight Ivy League universities in the United States,and served as its first president for nearly two decades. He was known for expanding the scope of college curricula. A politician,he had served as New York state senator and was later appointed as U.S. ambassador to Germany and Russia.
A land-grant university is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890,or a beneficiary under the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994. There are 57 institutions which fall under the 1862 Act,19 under the 1890 Act,and 35 under the 1994 Act.
Alonzo Barton Cornell was a New York politician and businessman who was the 27th governor of New York from 1880 to 1882.
Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) is the public library for residents of Tompkins County,New York. The library has one branch which is located in Ithaca,New York.
Hiram W. Sibley,was an American industrialist,entrepreneur,and philanthropist who was a pioneer of the telegraph in the United States.
The history of Cornell University begins when its two founders,Andrew Dickson White of Syracuse and Ezra Cornell of Ithaca,met in the New York State Senate in January 1864. Together,they established Cornell University in Ithaca,New York,in 1865. The university was initially funded by Ezra Cornell's $400,000 endowment and by New York's 989,920-acre (4,006.1 km2) allotment of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862.
Llenroc is a Gothic revival villa built for Ezra Cornell,the founder of Cornell University. It is located at 100 Cornell Avenue in Ithaca,New York,just below the Cornell University campus. Since 1911,it has been the home of the Pi Chapter of the Delta Phi fraternity. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Justin Morrill Hall,known almost exclusively as Morrill Hall,is an academic building of Cornell University on its main campus in Ithaca,New York. As of 2009,it houses the university's Departments of Romance Studies,Russian Literature,and Linguistics. The building is named in honor of Justin Smith Morrill,who as Senator from Vermont was the primary proponent of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862 which greatly assisted the founding of Cornell University. Morrill Hall was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
The New York State College of Forestry,the first professional school of forestry in North America,opened its doors at Cornell University,in Ithaca,New York,in the autumn of 1898.,It was advocated for by Governor Frank S. Black,but after just a few years of operation,it was defunded in 1903,by Governor Benjamin B. Odell in response to public outcry over the College's controversial forestry practices in the Adirondacks.
Central Campus is the primary academic and administrative section of Cornell University's Ithaca,New York campus. It is bounded by Libe Slope on the west,Fall Creek on the north,and Cascadilla Creek on the South.
Ithaca Falls is a waterfall located within the city of Ithaca,New York. It is the last of a series of waterfalls along the hanging valley formed where Fall Creek intersects the glacial trough of Cayuga Lake. The falls are in an amphitheater formed by freezing and thawing of the weak shale which makes up most of the gorge walls. The splash pool,and the creek just below the falls,are a popular spot for fly fishing.
John James Speed,Jr. was an American farmer,merchant,politician,and pioneer in telegraphy.
Fall Creek is a river located in Tompkins County,New York. It flows into Cayuga Lake by Ithaca,New York.
Victoria Romanoff is a Latvian-American artist living in central New York. She is known both for her work in the visual arts as well as for her vast contributions in architectural preservation.
Beebe Lake /bibi/ is a reservoir in Ithaca,New York,located on the campus of Cornell University.
Ezra Cornell is a monumental statue in Ithaca,New York,United States. Located on the Arts Quad of the Cornell Central Campus,the monument honors Ezra Cornell,the co-founder and namesake of Cornell University. The statue,designed by Hermon Atkins MacNeil,was dedicated in 1919.
I am very unexpectedly called upon to thank you for this expression of your confidence in electing me as the President of your Society for the ensuing year. Your partiality reposes a trust in me of which I have a grateful appreciation, though its just and proper fulfillment carries with it the most weighty responsibility.
The site of Ezra Cornell's 1807 birthplace in what was then Westchester Landing, New York, is now a McDonald's at 1515 Williamsbridge Road in the Bronx