Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 April 1883 — DEA H OF PETER COOPER. [ARTICLE]

DEA H OF PETER COOPER.

Peter Cooper, the venerable philanthropist,.died at his residence, in Ne.w York, April 4th, 1884, at 3:30a. m„ iu th e 93*1 year of bis age. Mr. Cooper had been ailiug for some time with a slight cold. About »n‘ hour before his death he called «< h s son, ex Mayor Cooper, and Mrs. Abram 8 Hewett, bis daughter, aad her iamily to his bedside, saying to them that he knew he bad not long o live, and they must become reeon eiied to the fact. He remained con acious to the time of his demise, and made several remarks iu regard to family affairs. During his last hours Mr. Cooper manifested bis great interest in the Cooper and •poke to ii«,wett, and his son, exMayor Cooper, about the manner in which the work should be carried on after his death.

[Peter Cooper was born in New York in 3791. His parents being in hutublo cire ims’an jes, he was obliged to pick up an education as best he could. At 8< venteen he was an ap» prentice at coach making. His first start toward a fortuue was by the invention of an improvemonr in ma~ chines for shearing cloth during the War of 1812-15 He then went into the manufacture of cabinet ware, afterward into the grocery business, and finally in the manufacture of glue and isinglass, iu which business be re maiued for ovei half a ceutury, iccu mulating a handsome fortune. In 1830 be built works for the manu'acture of iron, and afterward a rolling andfwire mill in New Yoik. In 1845 he bad a rolling mill for making rail roed bars at Trenton, N. J. At Bal timore, in 1830, he designed and built the first locomotive engine constructed in America, operating it on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. For e-gbteeu years he was President of the New York, New Fouadlaod and Loudon Telegraph Company. He also experimented successfully in a project for the best propelling power for boats on the Erie Canal, using the endless chain. Always fed in his native city, he was chosen to the Board of Assistants and of Aldermen. He was also prominen t in the establishment of the old Pub lie School Society. He aocompl shed the great object of his life, the establishment of an Institution, the Cooler Union, for free education.— In 1854 he laid the i>r .on o large building on Third and Fourt r venues in New Yoik, devoted to ar *nd science. This Institution no 9> *Til7over 2,000 pupils per year. 1

* has a seboel of art for women, a free school of telegraphy for yoong wowen, lecture rooms, reading rooms a library ol over 10.000 volumes The anLnal expense of this institution is about $60,000. In 1879 Mr Cooper added another story to this building. Mr. Cooper was a candidate for President of the United States on the Greenback Labor ticket in 1876[