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97-641: The post office is named in honor of Peter Cooper , the mid-19th century industrialist and philanthropist who founded the nearby The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art . The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The fictional character Newman from the television sitcom Seinfeld supposedly worked here. A photo of the building was frequently used as an establishing shot for scenes involving him. This postal system–related article

194-470: A canal across New York in the first decade of the 19th century. Shipping goods west from Albany was a costly and tedious affair; there was no railroad yet, and to cover the distance from Buffalo to New York City by stagecoach took two weeks. The problem was that the land rises about 600 feet (180 m) from the Hudson to Lake Erie. Locks at the time could handle up to 12 feet (3.7 m) of lift, so even with

291-756: A canal could cut transport costs by about 95 percent. In the early years of the United States, transportation of goods between the coastal ports and the interior was slow and difficult. Close to the seacoast, rivers provided easy inland transport up to the fall line , since floating vessels encounter much less friction than land vehicles. However, the Appalachian Mountains were a great obstacle to further transportation or settlement, stretching 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from Maine to Alabama , with just five places where mule trains or wagon roads could be routed. Passengers and freight bound for

388-488: A credit-based, Government-issued currency of United States Notes . In 1883 his addresses, letters and articles on public affairs were compiled into a book, Ideas for a Science of Good Government. Cooper was encouraged to run in the 1876 presidential election for the Greenback Party without any hope of being elected. His running mate was Samuel Fenton Cary . The campaign cost more than $ 25,000. The election

485-636: A deeply cut channel. The final leg had to be cut 30 feet (9.1 m) deep through another limestone mass, the Onondaga ridge . Much of that section was blasted with black powder , and the inexperience of the crews often led to accidents, and sometimes to rocks falling on nearby homes. Two villages competed to be the terminus: Black Rock , on the Niagara River , and Buffalo, at the eastern tip of Lake Erie. Buffalo expended great energy to widen and deepen Buffalo Creek to make it navigable and to create

582-506: A full scholarship until fall 2014, when the college began charging tuition, in part, due to the financial impact of construction loans taken before the Great Recession . The college is currently implementing a financial plan to restore full-tuition scholarships for all its undergraduate students by 2029. In 1851, Cooper was one of the founders of Children's Village , originally an orphanage called "New York Juvenile Asylum", one of

679-540: A glue factory in 1821 and used that factory's profits to found the Canton Iron Works, where he earned even larger profits by assembling the Tom Thumb . Cooper's success as a businessman and inventor continued over the ensuing decades, and he became the first mill operator to successfully use anthracite coal to puddle iron . He also developed numerous patents for products such as gelatin and participated in

776-723: A harbor at its mouth. Buffalo won over Black Rock, and grew into a large city, eventually encompassing its former rival. In 1824, before the canal was completed, a detailed Pocket Guide for the Tourist and Traveler, Along the Line of the Canals, and the Interior Commerce of the State of New York , was published for the benefit of travelers and land speculators. The entire canal was officially completed on October 26, 1825. The event

873-625: A lesser degree, related rivers, a large part of the continent's interior (and many settlements) would be made well connected to the Eastern seaboard. Among the first attempts made by European colonists to improve upon the future state's navigable waterways was the construction in 1702 of the Wood Creek Carry, or Oneida Carry a short portage road connecting Wood Creek to the Mohawk River near modern-day Rome, New York . However,

970-660: A man also heavily involved in inventions and industrialization. Peter Cooper's granddaughters, Sarah Cooper Hewitt, Eleanor Garnier Hewitt and Amy Hewitt Green founded the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum , then named the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, in 1895. It was originally part of The Cooper Union, but since 1967 has been a unit of the Smithsonian Institution . Cooper was a Unitarian who regularly attended

1067-759: A point in the Montezuma Marsh . There the Cayuga and Seneca Canal continued south with the Seneca River, and the new Erie Canal again ran parallel to the old canal along the bottom of the Niagara Escarpment, in some places running along the Clyde River, and in some places replacing the old canal. At Pittsford , southeast of Rochester, the canal turned west to run around the south side of Rochester, rather than through downtown. The canal crosses

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1164-461: A scraper and a plow, a three-man team with oxen, horses and mules could build a mile in a year. The remaining problem was finding labor; increased immigration helped fill the need. Many of the laborers working on the canal were Irish , who had recently come to the United States as a group of about 5,000. Most of them were Roman Catholic, a religion that raised much suspicion in early America because of its hierarchic structure, and many laborers on

1261-529: A shorter canal from Lake Ontario . The proposal drew attention and some action but was never implemented. Jesse Hawley had envisioned encouraging the growing of large quantities of grain on the western New York plains (then largely unsettled) for sale on the Eastern seaboard . However, he went bankrupt trying to ship grain to the coast. While in Canandaigua debtors' prison , Hawley began pressing for

1358-409: A walkway known as a towpath . Its construction, through limestone and mountains, proved a daunting task. To move earth, animals pulled a "slip scraper" (similar to a bulldozer ). The sides of the canal were lined with stone set in clay, and the bottom was also lined with clay. The Canal was built by Irish laborers and German stonemasons. All labor on the canal depended upon human and animal power or

1455-520: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a historic property or district in Manhattan , New York City , that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places , is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a building or structure in Manhattan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Peter Cooper Peter Cooper (February 12, 1791 – April 4, 1883)

1552-600: Is now re-watered and again accessible by boats. With several miles of the Canal inland of this location still lying under 20th-century fill and urban construction, the effective western navigable terminus of the Erie Canal is found at Tonawanda. The new alignment began on the Hudson River at the border between Cohoes and Waterford , where it ran northwest with five locks (the so-called " Waterford Flight "), running into

1649-542: The Appalachian Mountains , separating them from the geologically distinct Adirondacks to the north. The Mohawk and Hudson valleys form the only cut across the Appalachians north of Alabama . A navigable canal through the Mohawk Valley would allow an almost complete water route from New York City in the south to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in the west. Via the canal and these lakes, other Great Lakes, and to

1746-469: The Capital Region and west to Buffalo. The area has a population of 2.7 million; about 75% of Central and Western New York's population lives within 25 miles (40 km) of the Erie Canal. There were some 42 commercial shipments on the canal in 2008, compared to 15 such shipments in 2007 and more than 33,000 shipments in 1855, the canal's peak year. The new growth in commercial traffic is due to

1843-578: The Genesee River at the Genesee Valley Park , then rejoins the old path near North Gates . From there it was again roughly an upgrade to the original canal, running west to Lockport. This reach of 64.2 miles (103.3 km) from Henrietta to Lockport is called "the 60‑mile level" since there are no locks and the water level rises only two feet (0.61 m) over the entire segment. Diversions from and to adjacent natural streams along

1940-540: The New York Central Railroad and its Auburn Road in 1853) was open the whole way to Buffalo. As the railroad served the same general route as the canal, but provided for faster travel, passengers soon switched to it. However, as late as 1852, the canal carried thirteen times more freight tonnage than all the railroads in New York State combined. The New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway

2037-653: The New York State Barge Canal began, which was completed in 1918, at a cost of $ 96.7 million. This new canal replaced much of the original route, leaving many abandoned sections (most notably between Syracuse and Rome). New digging and flood control technologies allowed engineers to canalize rivers that the original canal had sought to avoid, such as the Mohawk, Seneca , and Clyde rivers, and Oneida Lake. In sections that did not consist of canalized rivers (particularly between Rochester and Buffalo),

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2134-682: The New York and Harlem Railroad established freight yards where cattle cars were parked practically outside his front door, although he did move to the more genteel Gramercy Park development in 1850. In 1854, Cooper was one of five men who met at the house of Cyrus West Field in Gramercy Park to form the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company , and, in 1855, the American Telegraph Company , which bought up competitors and established extensive control over

2231-484: The Niagara Escarpment , an 80-foot (24 m)-high wall of hard dolomitic limestone . The route followed the channel of a creek that had cut a ravine steeply down the escarpment. The construction and operation of two sets of five locks along a 3-mile (4.8 km) corridor soon gave rise to the community of Lockport . The 12-foot (3.7 m) lift-locks had a total lift of 60 feet (18 m), exiting into

2328-807: The Peter Cooper Station post office; Cooper Park in Brooklyn, Cooper Square in Manhattan, and Cooper Square in Hempstead, New York , Peter Cooper Village Senior Section 8 Housing in West Long Branch, New Jersey , are named in his honor. Notes Bibliography Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie . Completed in 1825,

2425-682: The Waterford Flight , the steepest locks in the United States. When leaving the canal, boats must also traverse the Black Rock Lock to reach Lake Erie or the Troy Federal Lock to reach the tidal Hudson. The overall elevation difference is about 565 feet (172 m). The Erie's peak year was 1855, when 33,000 commercial shipments took place. It continued to be competitive with railroads until about 1902, when tolls were abolished. Commercial traffic declined heavily in

2522-782: The École Polytechnique (Polytechnical School) in Paris , which would offer free practical education to adults in the mechanical arts and science, to help prepare young men and women of the working classes for success in business. In 1853, he broke ground for The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art , a private college in New York, completing the building in 1859 at the cost of $ 600,000. The Cooper Union offered open-admission night classes available to men and women alike, and attracted 2,000 responses to its initial offering, although 600 later dropped out. The classes were non-sectarian, and women were treated equally with men, although 95% of

2619-699: The 1920s. The Genesee Valley Canal was run along the Genesee River to connect with the Allegheny River at Olean , but the Allegheny section, which would have connected to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, was never built. The Genesee Valley Canal was later abandoned and became the route of the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad . The original design planned for an annual tonnage of 1.5 million tons (1.36 million metric tons), but this

2716-578: The 363-mile (584 km) canal was the second-longest in the world after the Grand Canal in China . Initially 40 feet (12 m) wide and 4 feet (1.2 m) deep, the canal was expanded several times, most notably from 1905 to 1918 when the "Barge Canal" was built and over half the original route was abandoned. The modern Barge Canal measures 351 miles (565 km) long, 120 feet (37 m) wide, and 12 feet (3.7 m) deep. It has 34 locks , including

2813-696: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as a natural market for iron rails to be made from his ore, he founded the Canton Iron Works in Baltimore , and when the railroad developed technical problems, he put together the Tom Thumb steam locomotive for them in 1829 from various old parts, including musket barrels, and some small-scale steam engines he had fiddled with back in New York. The engine was a rousing success, prompting investors to buy stock in B&;O, which enabled

2910-615: The Eastern Tanners Glue Company, began on May 5, 1904. Gowanda, therefore, was known as America's glue capital. Cooper owned a number of patents for his inventions, including some for the manufacture of gelatin , and he developed standards for its production. While his patent for “Portable Gelatine” bears a remarkable resemblance to the description of the dessert, Jell-O , that product was trademarked decades after Cooper’s patent expired. Cooper later invested in real estate and insurance , and became one of

3007-659: The Erie Canal into a system. These included the Cayuga-Seneca Canal south to the Finger Lakes , the Oswego Canal from Three Rivers north to Lake Ontario at Oswego , and the Champlain Canal from Troy north to Lake Champlain. From 1833 to 1877, the short Crooked Lake Canal connected Keuka Lake and Seneca Lake . The Chemung Canal connected the south end of Seneca Lake to Elmira in 1833, and

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3104-464: The Erie Canal is quite different from the nineteenth-century Erie Canal. More than half of the original Erie Canal was destroyed or abandoned during construction of the New York State Barge Canal in the early 20th century. The sections of the original route remaining in use were widened significantly, mostly west of Syracuse, with bridges rebuilt and locks replaced. It was called the Barge Canal at

3201-620: The Erie as part of the Great Loop . The canal has also become a tourist attraction in its own right—several parks and museums are dedicated to its history. The New York State Canalway Trail is a popular cycling path that follows the canal across the state. In 2000, Congress designated the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor to protect and promote the system. The waterway today referred to as

3298-499: The Genesee River near Rochester. The former ultimately required building the 1,320-foot (400 m) long "Great Embankment", to carry the canal at a height of 76 feet (23 m) above the level of the creek, which ran through a 245-foot (75 m) culvert underneath. The canal crossed the river on a stone aqueduct, 802 feet (244 m) long and 17 feet (5.2 m) wide, supported by 11 arches. In 1823 construction reached

3395-630: The Great London Exposition of 1862. In 1840, Cooper became an alderman of New York City. Prior to the Civil War , Cooper was active in the anti-slavery movement and promoted the application of Christian concepts to solve social injustice. He was a strong supporter of the Union cause during the war and an advocate of the government issue of paper money. Influenced by the writings of Lydia Maria Child , Cooper became involved in

3492-520: The Hudson River to the Great Lakes was first proposed in the 1780s, but a formal survey was not conducted until 1808. The New York State Legislature authorized construction in 1817. Political opponents of the canal (referencing its lead supporter New York Governor DeWitt Clinton ) denigrated the project as "Clinton's Folly" and "Clinton's Big Ditch". Nonetheless, the canal saw quick success upon opening on October 26, 1825, with toll revenue covering

3589-748: The Indian reform movement, organizing the privately funded United States Indian Commission . This organization, whose members included William E. Dodge and Henry Ward Beecher , was dedicated to the protection and elevation of Native Americans in the United States and the elimination of warfare in the western territories. Cooper's efforts led to the formation of the Board of Indian Commissioners , which oversaw Ulysses S. Grant 's Peace Policy. Between 1870 and 1875, Cooper sponsored Indian delegations to Washington, D.C. , New York City, and other Eastern cities. These delegations met with Indian rights advocates and addressed

3686-407: The Mohawk River east of Crescent . The Waterford Flight is claimed to be one of the steepest series of locks in the world. While the old Canal ran next to the Mohawk all the way to Rome, the new canal ran through the river, which was straightened or widened where necessary. At Ilion , the new canal left the river for good, but continued to run on a new alignment parallel to both the river and

3783-565: The New York State Canal System as a whole was used to ship 42,000 tons of cargo. Travel on the canal's middle section (particularly in the Mohawk Valley) was severely hampered by flooding in late June and early July 2006. Flood damage to the canal and its facilities was estimated as at least $ 15 million. The Erie made use of the favorable conditions of New York's unique topography, which provided that area with

3880-619: The Trenton facility into a giant complex employing 2,000 people, in which iron was taken from raw material to finished product. Cooper also operated a successful glue factory in Gowanda, New York , that produced glue for decades. A glue factory was originally started in association with the Gaensslen Tannery, there, in 1874, though the first construction of the glue factory's plant, originally owned by Richard Wilhelm and known as

3977-473: The United States. James Geddes and Benjamin Wright , who laid out the route, were judges whose experience in surveying was in settling boundary disputes . Geddes had only used a surveying instrument for a few hours before his work on the Canal. Canvass White was a 27-year-old amateur engineer who persuaded Clinton to let him go to Britain at his own expense to study the canal system there. Nathan Roberts

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4074-468: The Waters". On its return trip, Seneca Chief brought back a keg of Atlantic Ocean water, which was poured into Lake Erie by Buffalo's Judge Samuel Wilkeson , who would later become mayor. The Erie Canal was thus completed in eight years at a total length of 353 miles (568 km) and cost $ 7.143 million (equivalent to $ 192 million in 2023). It was acclaimed as an engineering marvel that united

4171-568: The West would enjoy economic success, and the port at the seaward end of such a route would see business increase greatly. In time, projects were devised in Virginia , Maryland , Pennsylvania , and relatively deep into the coastal states. The Mohawk River (a tributary of the Hudson River ) rises near Lake Ontario and runs in a glacial meltwater channel just north of the Catskill range of

4268-426: The abandonment of short segments of the original 1825 canal. The First Enlargement was completed in 1862, with further minor enlargements in later decades. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad opened in 1837, providing a bypass to the slowest part of the canal between Albany and Schenectady. Other railroads were soon chartered and built to continue the line west to Buffalo, and in 1842 a continuous line (which later became

4365-405: The canal suffered violent assault as the result of misjudgment and xenophobia . Construction continued at an increased rate as new workers arrived. When the canal reached Montezuma Marsh (at the outlet of Cayuga Lake west of Syracuse ), it was rumored that over 1,000 workers died of "swamp fever" (malaria), and construction was temporarily stopped. However, recent research has revealed that

4462-605: The canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes , vastly reducing the costs of transporting people and goods across the Appalachians . The Erie Canal accelerated the settlement of the Great Lakes region , the westward expansion of the United States, and the economic ascendancy of New York state . It has been called "The Nation's First Superhighway ." A canal from

4559-420: The canal would not be finished for 30 years. The main delays were caused by felling trees to clear a path through virgin forest and moving excavated soil, which took longer than expected, but the builders devised ways to solve these problems. To fell a tree, they threw rope over the top branches and winched it down. They pulled out the stumps with an innovative stump puller . Two huge wheels were mounted loose on

4656-719: The channel of Tonawanda Creek . From the Tonawanda south toward Buffalo, it ran just east of the Niagara River, where it reached its "Western Terminus" at Little Buffalo Creek (later it became the Commercial Slip ), which discharged into the Buffalo River just above its confluence with Lake Erie . With Buffalo's re-excavation of the Commercial Slip, completed in 2008, the Canal's original terminus

4753-597: The city's premier provider to tanners ( leather ), manufacturers of paints , and dry-goods merchants. The effluent from his successful factory eventually polluted the pond so much that in 1839 it had to be drained and backfilled for eventual building construction. Having been convinced that the proposed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad would drive up prices for land in Maryland , Cooper used his profits to buy 3,000 acres (12 km ) of land there in 1828 and began to develop them, draining swampland and flattening hills, during which he discovered iron ore on his property. Seeing

4850-411: The coast. Frequently it was not worth the cost of transporting it to far-away population centers. This was a factor leading to farmers in the west turning their grains into whiskey for easier transport and higher sales, and later the Whiskey Rebellion . In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it became clear to coastal residents that the city or state that succeeded in developing a cheap, reliable route to

4947-467: The company to buy Cooper's iron rails, making him what would be his first fortune. Cooper began operating an iron rolling mill in New York beginning in 1836, where he was the first to successfully use anthracite coal to puddle iron . Cooper later moved the mill to Trenton, New Jersey , on the Delaware River to be closer to the sources of the raw materials the works needed. His son and son-in-law, Edward Cooper and Abram S. Hewitt , later expanded

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5044-400: The construction of a canal along the 90-mile-long (140 km) Mohawk River valley with support from Joseph Ellicott (agent for the Holland Land Company in Batavia ). Ellicott realized that a canal would add value to the land he was selling in the western part of the state. He later became the first canal commissioner. New York legislators became interested in the possibility of building

5141-411: The country and helped New York City develop as an international trade center. Problems developed but were quickly solved. Leaks developed along the entire length of the canal, but these were sealed using cement that hardened underwater ( hydraulic cement ). Erosion on the clay bottom proved to be a problem and the speed was limited to 4 mph (6.4 km/h). Additional feeder canals soon extended

5238-447: The creation of the "Western and Northern Inland Lock Navigation Companies" in 1792, which took the first steps to improve navigation on the Mohawk and construct a canal between the Mohawk and Lake Ontario, but it was soon discovered that private financing was insufficient. Christopher Colles , who was familiar with the Bridgewater Canal, surveyed the Mohawk Valley, and made a presentation to the New York state legislature in 1784, proposing

5335-452: The death toll was likely much lower, as no contemporary reports mention significant worker mortality, and mass graves from the period have never been found in the area. Work continued on the downhill side towards the Hudson, and the crews worked on the section across the swampland when it froze in winter. The middle section from Utica to Salina (Syracuse) was completed in 1820, and traffic on that section started up immediately. Expansion to

5432-425: The east and west proceeded simultaneously, and the whole eastern section, 250 miles (400 km) from Brockport to Albany, opened on September 10, 1823, to great fanfare. The Champlain Canal , a separate but connected 64-mile (103 km) north–south route from Watervliet on the Hudson to Lake Champlain , opened on the same date. After Montezuma Marsh, the next difficulties were crossing Irondequoit Creek and

5529-421: The ends of an axle. A third wheel, slightly smaller than the others, was fixed to the center of the axle. A chain was wrapped around the axle and hooked to the stump. A rope was wrapped around the center wheel and hooked to a team of oxen. The mechanical advantage (torque) obtained ripped the stumps out of the soil. Soil to be moved was shoveled into large wheelbarrows that were dumped into mule-pulled carts. Using

5626-409: The expanding American network on the Atlantic Coast and in some Gulf coast states. He was among those supervising the laying of the first Transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858. During the 1830s Cooper designed the first steel chair in America, which was a rocking chair . Cooper produced a functional, minimalist design radically different from the Victorian heavily decorated, ostentatious style of

5723-455: The first documented instance of the idea of a canal to tie the East Coast to the new western settlements via New York's waterways was discussed as early as 1724: New York provincial official Cadwallader Colden made a passing reference (in a report on fur trading) to improving the natural waterways of western New York. Colden and subsequent figures in the history of the Erie Canal and its development would draw inspiration from other great works of

5820-473: The force of water. Engineering techniques developed during its construction included the building of aqueducts to redirect water; one aqueduct was 950 feet (290 m) long to span 800 feet (240 m) of river. As the canal progressed, the crews and engineers working on the project developed expertise and became a skilled labor force. The men who planned and oversaw construction were novices as surveyors and as engineers . There were no civil engineers in

5917-420: The heftiest cuttings and viaducts , fifty locks would be required along the 360-mile (580 km) canal. Such a canal would be expensive to build even with modern technology; in 1800, the expense was barely imaginable. President Thomas Jefferson called it "little short of madness" and rejected it. Eventually, Hawley interested New York Governor DeWitt Clinton in the project. There was much opposition, and

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6014-437: The horses, go slack, fall into the water and sink to the bottom, while his boat coasted with its remaining momentum. The privileged boat's team would step over the other boat's towline, with its horses pulling the boat over the sunken towline without stopping. Once clear, the other boat's team would continue on its way. Pulled by teams of horses, canal boats moved slowly, but methodically, shrinking time and distance. Efficiently,

6111-518: The lake. From Canastota west, it ran roughly along the north (lower) edge of the Onondaga Escarpment , passing through Syracuse, Onondaga Lake , and Rochester. Before reaching Rochester, the canal uses a series of natural ridges to cross the deep valley of Irondequoit Creek . At Lockport the canal turned southwest to rise to the top of the Niagara Escarpment , using the ravine of Eighteen Mile Creek . The canal continued south-southwest to Pendleton , where it turned west and southwest, mainly using

6208-439: The latter half of the 20th century due to competition from trucking and the 1959 opening of the larger St. Lawrence Seaway . The canal's last regularly scheduled hauler, the Day Peckinpaugh , ended service in 1994. Today, the Erie Canal is mainly used by recreational watercraft. It connects the three other canals in the New York State Canal System : the Champlain , Oswego , and Cayuga–Seneca . Some long-distance boaters take

6305-414: The laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable . During the Gilded Age , Cooper became an ardent critic of the gold standard and the debt-based monetary system of bank currency, advocating instead for government-issued banknotes . Cooper was nominated for president at the 1876 Greenback National Convention , and the Greenback ticket of Cooper and Samuel Fenton Cary won just under one percent of

6402-416: The nearby Astor , Mercantile and New York Society Libraries, was open until 10:00 at night, so that working people could make use of them after work hours. Today The Cooper Union is recognized as one of the leading American colleges in the fields of architecture, engineering, and art. Carrying on Peter Cooper's belief that college education should be free, The Cooper Union awarded all its students with

6499-492: The newly created New York State Canal Corporation , a subsidiary of the New York State Thruway Authority . While part of the Thruway, the canal system was operated using money generated by Thruway tolls. In 2017, the New York State Canal Corporation was transferred from the New York State Thruway to the New York Power Authority . In 2000, Congress designated the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor , covering 524 miles (843 km) of navigable water from Lake Champlain to

6596-441: The north side. When canal boats met, the boat with the right of way remained on the towpath side of the canal. The other boat steered toward the berm (or heelpath) side of the canal. The driver (or "hoggee", pronounced HO-gee) of the privileged boat kept his towpath team by the canalside edge of the towpath, while the hoggee of the other boat moved to the outside of the towpath and stopped his team. His towline would be unhitched from

6693-469: The old canal to Rome. From Rome, the new route continued almost due west, merging with Fish Creek just east of its entry into Oneida Lake. From Oneida Lake, the new canal ran west along the Oneida River , with cutoffs to shorten the route. At Three Rivers , the Oneida River turns northwest, and was deepened for the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. The new Erie Canal turned south there along the Seneca River, which turns west near Syracuse and continues west to

6790-428: The oldest non-profit organizations in the United States. Cooper died on April 4, 1883, at the age of 92 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn , New York . The lot number of his current burial site is 3932 & C . Aside from Cooper Union , the Peter Cooper Village apartment complex in Manhattan ; the Peter Cooper Elementary School in Ringwood, New Jersey ; the Cooper School in Superior, Wisconsin,

6887-413: The only break in the Appalachians south of the St. Lawrence River . The Hudson is tidal to Troy , and Albany is west of the Appalachians. It allowed for east–west navigation from the coast to the Great Lakes within US territory. The canal began on the west side of the Hudson River at Albany, and ran north to Watervliet , where the Champlain Canal branched off. At Cohoes , it climbed the escarpment on

6984-505: The only government that can ever bring the kingdom of heaven into the hearts of mankind either here or hereafter. Cooper had for many years held an interest in adult education: he had served as head of the Public School Society, a private organization which ran New York City's free schools using city money, when it began evening classes in 1848. Cooper conceived of the idea of having a free institute in New York, similar to

7081-495: The original Erie Canal channel was enlarged to 120 feet (37 m) wide and 12 feet (3.7 m) deep. The expansion allowed barges up to 2,000 short tons (1,800 t) to use the Canal. This expensive project was politically unpopular in parts of the state not served by the canal, and failed to save it from becoming obsolete for commercial shipping. Freight traffic reached a total of 5.2 million short tons (4.7 million metric tons) by 1951. The growth of railroads and highways across

7178-476: The popular vote in the 1876 presidential election . His son Edward and his son-in-law Abram Hewitt , both served as Mayor of New York City . Peter Cooper was born in New York City of Dutch , English and Huguenot descent, the fifth child of John Cooper, a Methodist hatmaker from Newburgh, New York . He worked as a coachmaker's apprentice , cabinet maker , hatmaker, brewer and grocer, and

7275-406: The project was ridiculed as "Clinton's folly" and "Clinton's ditch". In 1817, though, Clinton received approval from the legislature for $ 7 million for construction. The original canal was 363 miles (584 km) long, from Albany on the Hudson to Buffalo on Lake Erie. The channel was cut 40 feet (12 m) wide and 4 feet (1.2 m) deep, with removed soil piled on the downhill side to form

7372-403: The public on United States Indian policy. Speakers included: Red Cloud , Little Raven , and Alfred B. Meacham and a delegation of Modoc and Klamath Indians. Cooper was an ardent critic of the gold standard and the debt-based monetary system of bank currency. Throughout the depression from 1873 to 1878, he said that usury was the foremost political problem of the day. He strongly advocated

7469-413: The richest men in New York City . Despite this, he lived relatively simply in an age when the rich were indulging in more and more luxury. He dressed in simple, plain clothes, and limited his household to only two servants; when his wife bought an expensive and elaborate carriage, he returned it for a more sedate and cheaper one. Cooper remained in his home at Fourth Avenue and 28th Street even after

7566-417: The rising cost of diesel fuel. Canal barges can carry a short ton of cargo 514 miles (827 km) on one gallon of diesel fuel, while a gallon allows a train to haul the same amount of cargo 202 miles (325 km) and a truck 59 miles (95 km). Canal barges can carry loads up to 3,000 short tons (2,700 long tons), and are used to transport objects that would be too large for road or rail shipment. In 2012,

7663-461: The services of Henry Whitney Bellows at the Church of All Souls (New York) , and his views were Universalistic and non-sectarian . In 1873 he wrote: I look to see the day when the teachers of Christianity will rise above all the cramping powers and conflicting creeds and systems of human device, when they will beseech mankind by all the mercies of God to be reconciled to the government of love,

7760-661: The so-called " canal age ," including France's Canal du Midi and the Bridgewater Canal in England . The attempt in the 1780s by George Washington to build a canal from the tidewaters of the Potomac into the fledgling nation's interior was also well known to the planners of the Erie Canal. Gouverneur Morris and Elkanah Watson were early proponents of a canal along the Mohawk River . Their efforts led to

7857-404: The state's construction debt within the first year of operation. The westward connection gave New York City a strong advantage over all other U.S. ports and brought major growth to canal cities such as Albany , Utica , Syracuse , Rochester , and Buffalo . The construction of the Erie Canal was a landmark civil engineering achievement in the early history of the United States . When built,

7954-635: The state, and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, caused commercial traffic on the canal to decline dramatically during the second half of the 20th century. Since the 1990s, the canal system has been used primarily by recreational traffic. In 1992, the New York State Barge Canal was renamed the New York State Canal System (including the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca , Oswego, and Champlain canals) and placed under

8051-465: The students were male. Cooper started a Women's School of Design, which offered daytime courses in engraving, lithography, painting on china and drawing. The new institution soon became an important part of the community. The Great Hall was a place where the pressing civic controversies of the day could be debated, and, unusually, radical views were not excluded. In addition, the Union's library, unlike

8148-408: The time, but that name fell into disuse with the disappearance of commercial traffic and the increase of recreational travel in the later 20th century. Before railroads , water transport was the most cost-effective way to ship bulk goods . A mule can only carry about 250 pounds (110 kg) but can draw a barge weighing as much as 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg) along a towpath . In total,

8245-630: The time. Most rocking chairs had separate rockers fixed to regular chair legs, but Cooper's chair used the curve of its frame to ensure the rocking motion. Cooper's chair was made of steel or wrought iron with upholstery slung across the frame. The model was manufactured at R.W. Winfield & Co. in Britain. The firm exhibited examples of the chair at the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (Crystal Palace Exhibition) in 1851 and

8342-517: The way are used to maintain the canal's level. It runs southwest to Tonawanda , where the new alignment discharges into the Niagara River, which is navigable upstream to the New York Barge Canal 's Black Rock Lock and thence to the Canal's original "Western Terminus" at Buffalo's Inner Harbor . Canal boats up to 3.5 feet (1.1 m) in draft were pulled by horses and mules walking on the towpath. The canal had one towpath, generally on

8439-546: The west side of the Hudson River—16 locks rising 140 feet (43 m)—and then turned west along the south shore of the Mohawk River, crossing to the north side at Crescent and again to the south at Rexford . The canal continued west near the south shore of the Mohawk River all the way to Rome, where the Mohawk turns north. At Rome , the canal continued west parallel to Wood Creek , which flows westward into Oneida Lake , and turned southwest and west cross-country to avoid

8536-491: The western parts of the country had to travel overland, a journey made more difficult by the rough condition of the roads. In 1800, it typically took 2½ weeks to travel overland from New York to Cleveland, Ohio , (460 miles; 740 km) and 4 weeks to Detroit (612 miles; 985 km). The principal exportable product of the Ohio Valley was grain, which was a high-volume, low-priced commodity, bolstered by supplies from

8633-617: Was a mathematics teacher and land speculator . Yet these men "carried the Erie Canal up the Niagara escarpment at Lockport , maneuvered it onto a towering embankment to cross over Irondequoit Creek , spanned the Genesee River on an awesome aqueduct , and carved a route for it out of the solid rock between Little Falls and Schenectady —and all of those venturesome designs worked precisely as planned". Construction began on July 4, 1817, at Rome, New York . The first 15 miles (24 km), from Rome to Utica , opened in 1819. At that rate,

8730-580: Was an American industrialist , inventor, philanthropist , and politician. He designed and built the first American steam locomotive , the Tom Thumb , founded the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art , served as its first president, and stood for election as the Greenback Party 's candidate in the 1876 presidential election . Cooper began tinkering at a young age while working in various positions in New York City. He purchased

8827-604: Was an important route for Pennsylvania coal and timber into the canal system. The Chenango Canal in 1836 connected the Erie Canal at Utica to Binghamton and caused a business boom in the Chenango River valley. The Chenango and Chemung canals linked the Erie with the Susquehanna River system. The Black River Canal connected the Black River to the Erie Canal at Rome and remained in operation until

8924-591: Was completed in 1884, as a route running closely parallel to both the canal and the New York Central Railroad. However, it went bankrupt and was acquired the next year by the New York Central. The canal continued to compete well with the railroads through 1902, when tolls were abolished. In a November 3, 1903 referendum, a majority of New Yorkers authorized an expansion of the canal at a cost of $ 101,000,000. In 1905, construction of

9021-532: Was exceeded immediately. An ambitious program to improve the canal began in 1834. During this massive series of construction projects, known as the First Enlargement, the canal was widened from 40 to 70 feet (12 to 21 m) and deepened from 4 to 7 feet (1.2 to 2.1 m). Locks were widened and/or rebuilt in new locations, and many new navigable aqueducts were constructed. The canal was straightened and slightly re-routed in some stretches, resulting in

9118-406: Was marked by a statewide "Grand Celebration", culminating in a series of cannon shots along the length of the canal and the Hudson, a 90-minute cannonade from Buffalo to New York City. A flotilla of boats, led by Governor Dewitt Clinton aboard Seneca Chief , sailed from Buffalo to New York City over ten days. Clinton then ceremonially poured Lake Erie water into New York Harbor to mark the "Wedding of

9215-471: Was throughout a tinkerer: he developed a cloth-shearing machine which he attempted to sell, as well as an endless chain he intended to be used to pull barges and boats on the newly completed Erie Canal (which was routed west to east across upper New York State from Lake Erie to the upper Hudson River ) which its chief supporter, the Governor of New York , De Witt Clinton approved of, but which Cooper

9312-476: Was unable to sell. In 1821, Cooper purchased a glue factory on Sunfish Pond on east side Manhattan Island for $ 2,000 at Kips Bay , where he had access to raw materials from the nearby slaughterhouses , and ran it as a successful business for many years, producing a profit of $ 10,000 (equivalent to roughly $ 200,000 in 21st century value today) within 2 years, developing new ways to produce glues and cements, gelatin , isinglass and other products, and becoming

9409-568: Was won by Rutherford Birchard Hayes of the Republican Party . Cooper was surpassed by another unsuccessful candidate, Samuel J. Tilden of the Democratic Party . In 1813, Cooper married Sarah Bedell (1793–1869). Of their six children, only two survived past the age of four years: a son, Edward and a daughter, Sarah Amelia. Edward served as Mayor of New York City , as would the husband of Sarah Amelia, Abram S. Hewitt ,

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