Peter Cooper opened Cooper Union in 1859.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by Cooper Union's official history page, Wikipedia, and History.com, all consistently stating the institution was founded/opened in 1859 by Peter Cooper. [cascade flags: wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=silver indep_score=0.875 clusters=2 claim_tier=everyday]
Sources
- Cooper-Hewitt Transformed (seed:culture_and_philosophy)
- https://cooper.edu/about/history (corroboration)
- https://www.history.com/articles/after-155-years-its-the-end-of-an-era-at-cooper-union (corroboration)