Existing comment:
Peter Cooper, 1791-1883
with his wife Sarah, daughter (Sarah) Amelia, and son Edward
Inventor and millionaire industrialist Peter Cooper was one of the outstanding American businessmen of the nineteenth century. After making his initial fortune in the glue business, Cooper revolutionized the nation's railroad industry by designing and building the first successful American steam locomotive (1830). A generous philanthropist who viewed wealth as a trust to be used "for the education and uplifting of the common people," he founded New York City's Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (1857) -- an innovative institution that offered free vocational courses to adults with the desire but not the means to obtain an education.
Unidentified daguerreotypist, c. 1850 |