The project begins close to home
Pine places the beginnings of the Atlantic cable venture in the library of Cyrus W. Field’s house, on the site he identifies in 1921 as No. 1 Lexington Avenue. The ambition was extraordinary: to carry telegraphic messages between Europe and America beneath the ocean.
Peter Cooper, another Gramercy resident, became one of Field’s important supporters. Pine describes a group that included Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts and Wilson G. Hunt. His reproduced painting, “The Inception of the Atlantic Cable,” presents the enterprise as a gathering of collaborators rather than the achievement of one person working alone.
Persistence through failure
The project demanded engineering, investment and the ability to continue after expensive setbacks. Pine recalls a cable lost in mid-ocean and another that failed after carrying its first messages. The eventual success followed repeated efforts to solve problems that had initially made the undertaking seem impractical.
Cooper continued to support Field when financial loss appeared likely. Pine emphasizes that relationship between technical ambition and sustained backing. The same neighborhood that offered a place to live also brought together people with the resources and determination to pursue a much larger idea.
A neighborhood celebration
Pine records a grand illumination in Gramercy Park to celebrate the cable’s completion. Field’s achievement received national and international recognition, including a congressional gold medal and honors at the Paris Exposition of 1867.
The painting reproduced in the book belonged to the New York Chamber of Commerce. Its caption identifies the participants, including Cyrus W. Field and his brother David Dudley Field, the venture’s legal adviser. The illustration is a historical painting reproduced in the 1921 volume.
Connections beyond communication
For Cooper, the story also connected with education. Pine reports Cooper’s statement that profits he received from the cable went toward the institution known as Cooper Institute. His account links industry and invention with the effort to make practical education more widely available.
Explore Gramercy’s educational and library connections for the wider story of Cooper, Hewitt, Tilden and Bigelow. Their homes around the Park were connected to institutions serving people far beyond it.
A small square, a wider world
Read about Gramercy’s connections to education and libraries.
Sources
Adapted from John B. Pine, The Story of Gramercy Park, 1831–1921 (1921), printed pages 24–29.