Existing comment:
1846
On August 10, the United States Congress passed legislation to found the Smithsonian Institution as an establishment dedicated to the "increase and diffusion of knowledge." President James K. Polk signs it into law that same day.
1853
Construction begins on the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (known as Cooper Union) on September 17. Founded by industrialist and inventor Peter Cooper, the school still stands at 7 E 7th Street, New York City.
1859
Cooper Union opens as "a free institution of the working classes of New York and its vicinity, in science and art."
1897
Peter Cooper's granddaughters, sisters Sarah (1859–1930) and Eleanor (1864–1924) Hewitt, establish the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration. The museum opens as "a practical working laboratory," a visual library for use by students, designers, and the general public.
1898
At his wife Louise's urging, industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie purchases land for his new family home "far north" of where his peers are living, allowing him to build a large private garden that is one of the only such spaces in Manhattan.
1901
The Carnegie Mansion garden is designed by Guy Lowell, a Boston architect and landscape architect, and Richard Schermerhorn Jr., a Brooklyn native trained in civil engineering. |