"Cooper had a very generous vision of what education was supposed to be about it was supposed to admit people only on the basis of talent and deserving status it was not supposed to take account of their religion, their gender , their race and it was also supposed to be free of charge, free as air and water.
"Applicants to Cooper Union basically had to prove their worthy status that is they would get an existing employer or minister or maybe even another family member to write a letter on their behalf saying that they were deserving of a free education. And then they would be admitted at any age after the age of 14, because there wasn't in fact a high school system in New York until after the Civil War.
"There were existing free schemes of education available. What's interesting about Cooper is that he makes the very existence of the institution premised on the idea that, as he said, education should be as free as air and water. The only way he thought he could support this scheme was that part of the building he offered for rent and the rental sections of the building would then pay for the free sections of the building and basically this is how the program has continued to the present with rents from various real estate operations being rolled in and paying for the free education that Cooper offers.
A photo of the Cooper Union foundation building while shops lined the ground floor.
"For most of the 19th century Cooper either paid for the operations of Cooper Union out of his own pocket or from the rents from two of the floors in the building. Later on he gave land further up Manhattan Island to the institution, and on that land the Chrysler building was built. And indeed it is that money from the Chrysler building rent that still supplies much of Cooper Union's operating budget."
