Civil Engineer
Centurion, 1888–1919
Born 13 January 1839 in Coopers Plains, New York
Died 24 August 1919 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Buried Kensico Cemetery
, Valhalla, New York
Proposed by Joseph P. Davis and William Bispham
Elected 1 December 1888 at age forty-nine
Proposer of:
Century Memorial
Before the collapse in 1907 of the bridge across the St. Lawrence at Quebec—an occurrence which was the tragedy of his life—Theodore Cooper was a familiar figure in the Century’s afternoon and evening groups. He was a recognized authority on iron and steel construction, had cooperated with Eads in building the St. Louis bridge in 1872, and was assistant engineer for constructing the first of the elevated railways in New York. Much later, he was consulting engineer for the New York Public Library. The fatal accident at Quebec—which, it was said, would have been averted if a telegram of warning sent by Cooper, but delayed in transit, had arrived in time—came as a heavy blow. Its effect upon him, as one of the constructing engineers, was to change in many respects even his habits of social life. But, though he came to the Club more rarely, he never relinquished his connection with the Century and never lost his loyalty to it.
Alexander Dana Noyes
1920 Century Association Yearbook
