Cyrus Northrop

Cyrus Northrop (September 30, 1834 – April 3, 1922) was an American university president.^[1]

Cyrus Northrop
2nd President of the University of Minnesota
In office 1884–1911
Preceded by	William Watts Folwell
Succeeded by	George Edgar Vincent
Personal details
Born	(1834-09-30)September 30, 1834 Ridgefield, Connecticut
Died	April 3, 1922(1922-04-03) (aged 88) Minneapolis, Minnesota

Early life

 

Northrop at 18 years old.

Cyrus Northrop, Sr. was born in Ridgefield, Connecticut.^[2] He graduated from Yale University in 1857 where he was a member of both Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity^[3][4] Northrop graduated from the Yale Law School in 1859. Two years later he was appointed clerk of the Connecticut House of Representatives and in 1862 clerk of the Connecticut State Senate. About these early appointments, one of his fraternities wrote in a 1916 retrospective, that:

"This [was] a rare distinction and indicates the great versatility and strong personality of the man that manifested themselves very early in his life." ^[5]

He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1857.^[4]

Northrop married Miss Anna E. Warren, a daughter of J. D. Warren of Stamford, Connecticut on his twenty-eighth birthday, September 30, 1862. An accomplished woman, she served as advisor and liaison to many campus groups during his tenure at Minnesota.

In 1863 he returned to New Haven and became the editor of the New Haven Palladium, a position "he filled with rare ability and skill."^[5]

Career and accomplishments

Northrop was elected to the chair of Rhetoric and English Literature at Yale from 1863 to 1884. He retired from Yale to become president of the University of Minnesota, a post he held from 1884 to 1911. The Talk page has an extensive discussion on his degrees, his tenure, and his many fraternity memberships. The Tomahawk retrospective continues: "...he continued to labor in the steadily broadening field of education for the next twenty-seven years, retiring [again] in April, 1911, from active work loved, honored, and respected by hosts of young men and women as "Prexy" and a firm and true friend to all."

During Northrop's presidency, the University of Minnesota came to rank as one of the most prestigious of American public universities.

Under his 27 years of leadership at Minnesota, the following milestones were reached:

• Enrollment increased seventeen-fold: from 289 to over 5,000.
• The number of faculty increased twelve-fold.
• The Minneapolis campus increased from two buildings to twenty-three.
• The Agricultural (St. Paul) campus increased from two buildings to twenty-three, as well.
• The School of Agriculture became the first successful such program in the nation.
• The university was expanded from a single college to eleven.
• The Dentistry School was established and ranked as the finest in the world.
• The Law and Medical schools were likewise ranked as among the best in the US.
• His first year, there were 19 graduates; in his last year the school awarded 580 diplomas.
• He was absolutely adored by the students, the alumni, and the state in a personal way that seems unattainable now, in comparison.^[6]

Northrop's daughter Elizabeth married Joseph Warren Beach, a famous literary scholar who later chaired the English Department at the University of Minnesota.

Post-presidency

Upon retirement he became a beloved President Emeritus of the University of Minnesota. In September, 1915, Northrop was elected Grand Senior President of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, a position in which he served until 1919.

Degrees and honorary degrees

In 1886 his alma mater, Yale, conferred upon him her highest honor, that of LL.D. Similar degrees were conferred upon him by the University of Wisconsin and Illinois College, both in 1904, to be followed by South Carolina College in 1905, and the University of Minnesota.

The Tomahawk closes their retrospective with: "President Northrop is affectionately remembered among the 'Sigs, and has spoken kindly of his associations with them when an active member of Alpha Chapter at Yale in 1855–6. A glance at his picture will convince anyone that he is still a young man in spite of his many years of experience and great activity." ^[5]

For his leadership and vision, the Minnesota Geological Survey honored Dr. Northrop by naming a mountain after him: Mount Northrop is located in Lake County, in the range of the Sawtooth Mountains.^[7] He is also the namesake of the city of Northrop, Minnesota.^[8] The Northrop Collegiate School for Girls (a predecessor to the Blake School) was likewise named in Northrop's honor.^[9]

Northrop died on April 3, 1922 at his home in Minneapolis. His friend and the first President of the University of Minnesota, William Watts Folwell, eulogized him in the Minnesota Gopher yearbook,^[10] picturing his funeral procession on p. 271 that year. By the following year, Minnesota had risen in a spectacular commemoration plan, explained in a retrospective article in the 1924 Gopher yearbook of over 30 pages. It described completion within less than two years of a campaign that raised the then-astonishing amount of $650,000 in student and faculty subscriptions (~pledges) toward the building of both an auditorium dedicated to the honor of Northrop, and a stadium to honor Minnesota's war dead.^[11]

Publications

Northrop published Addresses, Educational and Patriotic (1910). He encouraged poet Arthur Upson to revise the song, "Hail! Minnesota."

Notes

1. The last name is spelled Northrop, not Northrup, although scattered typos may be found throughout Minnesota Gopher yearbooks and other sources.
2. "Obituary record of graduates of Yale ... – Yale University – Google Books". 1911-07-09. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
3. There is some confusion about Northrop's fraternity affiliation which has been published, repeating an error that had crept into the 1890 Minnesota yearbook. Cyrus Northrop Sr. was a member and toward the end of his life in 1919 even a national officer of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, according to their historical records. Alpha Sigma Phi was a sophomore society at Yale at the time. Delta Kappa Epsilon was a Junior Society then, a fraternity he joined in the following year. Northrop was a member of both (per the 1890 DKE Catalogue) His son, Cyrus Northrop Jr. was also a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, class of 1893, at the University of Minnesota, per the History of Delta Kappa Epsilon, accessed 12 June 2014.
4. There is a lengthy analysis of Northrop's many fraternal memberships on the Talk page.
5. From the Alpha Sigma Phi Tomahawk, Feb. 1916 pp. 135–136.
6. Minnesota Gopher yearbook, 1925, pp. 45–47
7. Upham, Warren (2001) Minnesota Place Names, A Geographical Encyclopedia, Third Edition, p147; MHS Press; ISBN 0-87351-396-7
8. Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 334.
9. "History". The Blake School. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
10. Minnesota Gopher yearbook, 1923, p. 29
11. Minnesota Gopher yearbook, 1924, pp. 25–56.

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Academic offices
Preceded by William Watts Folwell	2nd President of the University of Minnesota 1884–1911	Succeeded by George Edgar Vincent