Founding and early history The Cooper Union was founded in 1859 by American industrialist
Peter Cooper, one of the richest businessmen in the United States. Cooper was a workingman's son who had less than a year of formal schooling. Despite this, he designed and built America's first steam
railroad engine and made a fortune with a glue factory and iron foundry. He was a principal investor and first president of the
New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, which laid the first
transatlantic telegraph cable, and once ran for President under the
Greenback Party, becoming the oldest person ever
nominated for the office by a political party. Cooper's dream was to give talented young people the one privilege he lacked: a good education from an institution which was "open and free to all". To achieve these goals, Cooper designated the bulk of his wealth to The Cooper Union. According to
The New York Times in 1863, "It was rare that those of limited means, however eager they might be to acquire a knowledge of some of the higher branches of education, could obtain tuition in studies not named in the regular course taught in our public schools."
Development after founding Originally intended to be named simply "the Union", the Cooper Union began with
adult education in night classes on the subjects of
applied sciences and
architectural drawing, as well as day classes primarily intended for women on the subjects of photography, telegraphy, typewriting and
shorthand in what was called the college's Female School of Design. The early institution also had a free reading room open day and night, the first in New York City (predating the
New York Public Library system), and a new four-year nighttime engineering college for men and a few women. In 1883, a five-year curriculum in
chemistry was added as an alternative to the applied science (engineering) program. A daytime engineering college was added in 1902, thanks to funds contributed by
Andrew Carnegie.
John E. Parsons, and
William Francis Deegan. The Cooper Union's free classes have evolved into three schools: the School of Art, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, and the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. Since 1859, the Cooper Union has educated thousands of artists, architects, and engineers, many of them leaders in their fields. After 1864 there were a few attempts to merge Cooper Union and
Columbia University, but these were never realized. The
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, was founded in 1897 as part of Cooper Union by Sarah, Eleanor, and Amy Hewitt, granddaughters of Peter Cooper.
Structure-building era The Foundation Building Cooper Union's Foundation Building is an Italianate
brownstone building designed by architect
Fred A. Petersen, one of the founders of the
American Institute of Architects. It was the first structure in New York City to feature rolled-iron
I-beams for structural support; Peter Cooper himself invented and produced these beams. Petersen patented a fire-resistant hollow brick tile he used in the building's construction. The building was the first in the world to be built with an elevator shaft, because Cooper, in 1853, was confident an elevator would soon be invented. However, he expected them to be cylindrical, so he designed the shaft in the shape of a circle. The building was declared a
National Historic Landmark in 1961, and a
New York City Landmark in 1965, and added to the
Historic American Engineering Record in 1971.
The Foundation Building's Great Hall February 27, 1860, the day of his famous
Cooper Union speech in New York On February 27, 1860, the school's Great Hall, located in the basement level of the Foundation Building, became the site of a historic address by
Abraham Lincoln. "Lincoln made his address on a snowy night before about 1,500 persons." Widely reported in the press and reprinted throughout the North in pamphlet form, the speech galvanized support for Lincoln and contributed to his gaining the Party's nomination for the presidency. It is now referred to as the
Cooper Union Address. Since then, the Great Hall has served as a platform for historic addresses by
American Presidents Grant,
Cleveland,
Taft,
Theodore Roosevelt,
Woodrow Wilson, and
Bill Clinton. Clinton spoke on May 12, 1993, about reducing the federal deficit and again on May 23, 2006, as the Keynote Speaker at The Cooper Union's 147th Commencement, along with
Anna Deavere Smith. He appeared a third time on April 23, 2007, along with Senator
Edward Kennedy,
Henry Kissinger,
Norman Mailer, and others, at the memorial service for historian
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Most recently,
Barack Obama delivered an economic policy speech at Cooper Union's Great Hall on April 22, 2010. On September 22, 2014, President of the
Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas delivered his first formal speech in English. Other historic speakers in the Great Hall have included
Frederick Douglass,
Susan B. Anthony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and
Mark Twain. The Great Hall continues to serve as an important metropolitan art space and has hosted lectures and performances by such key figures as
Joseph Campbell,
Steve Reich,
Salman Rushdie,
Ralph Nader,
Hamza Yusuf,
Richard Stallman,
Rudolph Giuliani,
Pema Chodron,
Michael Bloomberg,
Evo Morales, and Venezuelan president
Hugo Chávez. When not occupied by external or hosted events, the Great Hall is made accessible to students and faculty for large lectures and recreational activities, including the school's annual Culture Show. In 1994, the Cooper Union Forum of Public Programs was honored with a
Village Award from the
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. In late 2008, the Great Hall was closed to students and outside events for the first major renovation of the hall since 1978. It reopened in March 2009. The Cooper Union maintains an archive of ephemera and recordings from events that have taken place in the Great Hall through the Voices from the Great Hall Digital Access Project.
Modern changes The Cooper Union has schools in architecture, fine art, and engineering. At present, these three fields represent Cooper Union's degree programs. The Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies provides classes and faculty to all three programs. In 2002, the school decided to generate revenue by razing its engineering building and having it replaced with a commercial building, and replacing its Hewitt Building with a new building called
41 Cooper Square.
41 Cooper Square A new classroom, laboratory, and studio facility designed by
Thom Mayne replaced the aging Hewitt Academic Building at
41 Cooper Square. In contrast to the Foundation Building, 41 Cooper Square is of modern, environmentally
"green" design, housing nine above-ground floors and two basements. The structure features unconventional architectural features, including a full-height Grand Atrium, prevalent interior windows, a four-story linear central staircase, and upper-level
skyways, which reflect the design intention of inspiring, socially interactive space for students and faculty. In addition, the building's design allows for up to 75%
natural lighting, further reducing energy costs. In 2010, 41 Cooper Square became the first academic and laboratory structure in New York City to meet Platinum-level
LEED standards for energy efficiency. The building was funded in part by alumni donations, materialized in nameplates and other textual recognition throughout the building. Primarily designed to house the Cooper Union's School of Engineering and School of Art, the new building's first eight above-ground floors are populated by classrooms, small engineering laboratories, study lounges, art studio space, and faculty offices. The ninth, top floor is dedicated completely to School of Art studio and classroom space in addition to the art studio spaces located throughout the building. The lowest basement level consists almost completely of the school's large machine shops and design laboratories, as well as much of the
HVAC and supply infrastructure. The building's first basement level houses primarily the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, a 198-capacity
lecture hall and event space designed as a smaller, more modern alternative to the Great Hall.
Antisemitism allegations In January 2026, the Cooper Union reached a formal
settlement with the U.S. Department of Education's
Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to resolve a federal investigation into allegations of campus
antisemitism. The probe focused on the institution's compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, particularly following an October 2023 incident in which Jewish students were required to shelter in a campus library during a pro-Palestinian demonstration. Under the settlement terms, the college committed to comprehensive institutional reforms, including the revision of its anti-harassment policies, the implementation of enhanced bias-incident reporting protocols, and mandatory training for staff and security personnel. While the agreement does not constitute an admission of liability by the Cooper Union, the administration has pledged to foster a campus climate that ensures the safety and inclusion of Jewish and
Israeli students. ==Financial support==