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A portrait of Seth Low hangs in the lobby of the Club, on the west
wall.
Seth Low is a towering figure in
the history of Columbia University.
Called to the presidency in 1889, Low oversaw the expansion of the university
on many fronts. He increased the scope of the graduate schools, firmly
established relationships with Barnard
College, Teachers’ College, and
the College of Physicians
and Surgeons, and spearheaded the school’s move to Morningside
Heights. He contributed the
resources to build the new campus library, named for his father Abiel Abbot
Low, and created trust funds to promote research at the university.
 Low, born in 1850, was himself a
member of the college class of 1870. He was called by President Barnard “the
most manly young fellow we have had here in many a year.” (Take that to mean
what you will.) He left Columbia
in his senior year to work in his father’s textile import business. He soon
rose to prominence in Republican politics, become mayor of Brooklyn
in 1881. He left the presidency in 1901 when he was elected mayor of the
recently amalgamated New York City,
swept in on a wave of anti-Tammany sentiment. Though he served just one term,
his administration encouraged civil service, fought city-wide corruption, and
spurred on the building of the subway.
Low continued to serve as a Trustee
of Columbia until 1914. He died at his home in Bedford
Hills, New York, in September
1916.
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This portrait of George Rupp hangs
in the lobby of the Club, on the west wall.
Portrait Unveiling of Columbia’s
Past President George Rupp, Monday, June 14, Columbia University Club: George
Rupp, Past President of Columbia University; David F. Gibson, Vice President
of the Columbia University Club of New York; Joseph L. Kelly, Past President
of the Columbia University Club Foundation; Arthur M. Delmhorst, current
President of the Foundation.
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A portrait of Samuel Johnson hangs in the lobby of the Club on the
west wall.
Samuel
Johnson, the first president of King’s College, was born in 1696 in Connecticut;
a graduate of Yale College,
he became the minister of the West Haven
Congregational church in 1720. However, Johnson soon came to doubt the
legitimacy of Congregational ordination and sought ordination in the Church
of England, establishing Connecticut’s
first Anglican church in 1723. He quickly became well-known in religious and
intellectual circles and in the 1750s, when Trinity Church decided to
establish King’s College, an Anglican (Episcopal) college in New York City,
Johnson was sought out to be its first president. Fearing the diseases of the
big city, Johnson took months to accept. The school opened in July
1754--Johnson the sole faculty member and eight “woefully unprepared” young
men as the student body.
Look for
Johnson’s portrait next time you’re in the Club.
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