Background
Edward Cooper was born on October 26, 1824 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of Peter Cooper, and Sarah Bedell.
Businessman manufacturer military statesman
Edward Cooper was born on October 26, 1824 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of Peter Cooper, and Sarah Bedell.
Cooper attended the New York public schools and entered Columbia University.
Together with Hewitt, Cooper organized Cooper, Hewitt & Company for the manufacture of iron and steel. From his father he inherited marked inventive talent which he cultivated by scientific study of the iron and steel industry, with fruitful results. Perhaps the most notable of these was the invention of the regenerative hotblast stove for blast furnaces. Neither for this nor for his other inventions did he apply for patents; thus many noteworthy improvements designed by him, such as the Durham double bell and hopper, are not generally known as his.
Recognition, however, meant little to him. He preferred that his colleagues and the public should benefit by his ingenuity and have free use of his discoveries. Keeping pace with the development of the iron and steel industry in the United States, the firm of Cooper, Hewitt & Company grew rapidly. It succeeded to the iron interests of Peter Cooper and added also the Trenton, Ringwood, Pequest, and Durham Iron Works. In consequence Edward Cooper was sought for places of responsibility and at various times served as a director of the United States Trust Company, American Sulphur Company, New Jersey Steel & Iron Company, New York & Greenwood Lake Railway, American Electric Elevator Company, Chrysolite Silver Mining Company, and the Metropolitan Opera House.
His public career began when, in 1860, he was chosen a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in Charleston. In 1871, he suggested to Governor Samuel Tilden, to whom he was a valued counselor, that the accounts of “Boss” Tweed and his associates, who then dominated New York City politics, be subjected to examination. The Governor approved, and a vigorous investigation was ordered which ended in the complete downfall of the “Tweed Ring. ”
As a member of the Committee of Seventy, Cooper played a prominent part, not only in the prosecutions but also in the reform that followed. Although always a Democrat, he was chosen in 1879 fusion candidate for mayor by the Republicans and a wing of the Democrats, and after an exciting campaign was elected. During his administration he worked energetically toward municipal reform. Like his father, he devoted himself generously to the public interests. Of Cooper Union, which was established and endowed by his father, he became a trustee and president of the board of trustees, and labored unsparingly for its advancement.
Edward Cooper was involved in minicipal politics as Democrat.
Cooper was married in 1863 to Cornelia Redmond, who died in 1894.