Cornell University was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White and opened its doors in 1868. Cornell is the federal land-grant institution of New York State, a private endowed university, a member of the Ivy League/Ancient Eight, and a partner of the State University of New York (SUNY). Cornell has been described as the first truly American university because of its founders' revolutionarily egalitarian and practical vision of higher education, and is dedicated to its land-grant mission of outreach and public service.
Carpenter, mechanic, farmer, salesman, inventor, entrepreneur, politician and philanthropist, Ezra Cornell was an extraordinary man. While he referred to himself simply as a farmer and mechanic who had spent some time working in the telegraph industry, through skillful work, uncommon tenacity, and fortuitous circumstances, he amassed a fortune. Ezra Cornell envisioned America as a place where technology, wealth, and altruism could come together to benefit all of its inhabitants. In 1865, with his fortune at hand, he founded Cornell University.
