Cornell, Ezra

Name: Ezra Cornell

Achievements: Cornell University

Born: January 11, 1807; Westchester Landing, New York

Died: December 9, 1874; Ithaca, New York (Aged 67)

Field & Discipline: Business; Philanthropy; Telegraphy

Language: English.

Father: Elijah Cornell

Mother: Eunice Barnard.

Siblings: Benjamin; Daniel; Deborah; Edward; Elijah; Jane; John; Lucretia; Mary; Phebe

Spouse: Mary Ann Wood

Children: Alonzo B. Cornell (25th Governor of New York); Charles C.; Elizabeth; Emma P.; Franklin C.; Mary E.; O. H. Perry

Education: Common schools of Westchester and Madison counties

Major Work:

Foundation of Cornell University

Life & Times:

Cornell left home when he was twenty-one and went to Syracuse to work as a carpenter and learn basic mechanics.  He then moved on to the town of Ithaca and worked firstly as a millwright, then later as General Manager of the flour and plaster mills of J.S. Beebe.

In this role, he demonstrated his skills as an engineer, constructing a tunnel through solid rock which carried the mill’s water supply.  Despite his success, the mill was converted into a wool factory in 1841,  and Cornell lost his job.

He went on to Maine to work as a salesman, demonstrating a patent plough.  During his travels, he met the editor of ‘The Eastern Farmer’, F.O.J. Smith, who introduced Cornell to his partner, [worked with] Samuel Morse*.   At the time, Morse was developing a method to lay the first-long distance telegraph line.  He needed two machines, one to lay the wire in the ground and another to bury it.

Cornell came up with designs for a machine that could do both jobs at the same time, so Morse provided him with a workshop and materials.   When the machine was complete, he was hired to lay a telegraph wire from Baltimore to Washington.

The buried wires caused problems, so instead, they came up with the idea of insulating the wires and suspending them in the air.  The idea was a success,  and Cornell was kept on to supervise the construction of  a telegraphic line linking New York with Washington, DC.

During this work,  Cornell also developed a way to lay telegraph wire under water and, by 1845  he was in demand for lines between the Hudson and Philadelphia,  New York and Albany as well as for work in Vermont and Quebec.

The telegraph was a booming business, so Cornell set up his own company, the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company, which built links between the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and Milwaukee.

When it became apparent how lucrative the telegraph was going to be, the competition became fierce, with some towns having as many as four rival operating companies.   As a way of regulating this competition, seven of the large firms combined forces in 1855 and the Western Union Telegraph Company was launched in the Mid-West.

Soon Western Union spanned the United States and Canada and, with Cornell as Director, the company (and Cornell) made a fortune.

Financially secure, he became involved with public affairs and in 1861 was elected to the State Legislature,  serving in the Assembly for two years and the Senate for four.  He became a philanthropist,  giving the city of Ithaca a library.

He also became interested in agriculture and bought a model farm, which he stocked with imported Shorthorn cattle and Southdown sheep.  The industry rewarded him in 1862 when he became the president of the State Agricultural Society.

He also became a trustee of the neglected State Agricultural College.  In a bid to encourage agricultural development he offered to donate $300,000 to the college, on condition that it was moved to Ithaca and given half of the Morrill land grant provided by Congress in 1862.

Faced with opposition to this idea, in autumn 1868  he spent $500,000 establishing Cornell University.  He invested further in the classical and law departments, donated $100,000 to the Cornell Library and went on to give more than $400,000 more.  At the university opening ceremonies, Cornell said “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.”   This became the university’s mission.

Having made his mark on business, Cornell relaxed into university life and was often seen walking around the campus in frock coat and stove-pipe hat until his death in December 1874.

Extra Connections: His work related to that of  [influenced] Minot*

Assessment: He was one of the leading figures early telecommunications.

Oneliner: Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University

Bibliography:

• Philip Dorf,  The Builder.  A Biography of Ezra Cornell,  MacMillan Company, New York, 1952.