Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
from 1881 to 1885, the
president of Columbia University
The president of Columbia University is the chief officer of Columbia University in New York City. The position was first created in 1754 by the original royal charter for the university, issued by George II of Great Britain, George II, and the p ...
from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of the United States, and the
mayor of New York City
The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...
from 1902 to 1903. He was a leading municipal reformer fighting for efficiency during the
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...
.
Early life
Low was the son of
Abiel Abbot Low and Ellen Almira Dow.
Low's father was a leading China trader, and his father's sister,
Harriet Low
Harriett Low Hillard (1877) was an American woman of letters and diarist. From 1829 to 1833 she lived in the Portuguese colony of Macau on the South China coast and she and her sickly aunt became the first American women to go to China. During he ...
, was one of the first young American women to live in China.
The Low family was old Puritan New England stock, descended from Thomas Low of
Essex County, Massachusetts
Essex County is a County (United States), county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the total population was 809,829, making it the third-most populous county in the stat ...
.
Low was named after his grandfather Seth Low (1782–1853) who moved with his son Abiel to Brooklyn to start a prosperous importing company.
When Brooklyn was incorporated as a city in 1834, Seth the elder was one of the incorporators; he also served on the Board of Aldermen and was first President of the Board of Education.
Seth the elder was also involved with charity and support work for the poor; on his deathbed, he admonished his three-year-old grandson and namesake: "Be kind to the poor."
Low's father was a
Unitarian, and his mother was an
Episcopalian
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
.
For years, Low wavered between the two faiths. Finally, at age 22, Low decided he would henceforth be an Episcopalian.
Low attended
Poly Prep Country Day School
Poly Prep Country Day School (commonly known as Poly Prep) is an independent, co-educational day school with two campuses in Brooklyn, New York, United States. The Middle School (5th to 8th grades) and Upper School (9th to 12th grades) are loc ...
in Brooklyn and
Columbia College. After graduating from Columbia in 1870, Low made a short trip abroad, and then entered the tea and silk house of A. A. Low & Brothers, which had been founded by his father in New York. In 1875, he was admitted a member of the firm, from which, upon its liquidation in 1888, he withdrew with a large fortune.
In the mid-1870s, Seth Low began to lay the groundwork for his political career by supporting "welfare reform" and the elimination of food and coal disbursements for the poor which caused "starving people" to gather at "warehouses where food was stored" to beg for help. During this period, the reform movement, of which Low was a stalwart, denounced emergency assistance of potatoes and flour for the poor. The reduction in welfare assistance for the poor led many to seek shelter in "police station basements" and in city hospitals, and led many poor parents to bring "their children to asylums" and many men to beg on the streets for "charity or work."
On 1880-12-09, he married Anne Wroe Scollay Curtis of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, daughter of Justice
Benjamin R. Curtis of the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. They had no biological children, but adopted two nieces and a nephew.
Mayor of Brooklyn
First term
By 1881 Brooklyn had been governed for years by a corrupt Democratic political machine under
Hugh McLaughlin.
By this time, a wave of
goo-goo (or "good government") sentiment had begun to gain favor, and public sentiment was starting to turn against the incumbent Democratic regime.
Brooklyn Republicans sensed an opportunity, but they were split between the "stalwart" candidate Benjamin F. Tracy and reform candidate Ripley Ropes.
Low had no particular ambition to become Mayor,
but his name was brought forth as a compromise, because his wealth and old family name appealed to the "stalwarts" and his reformist views appealed to the reformers.
Low accepted the nomination at the Republican city convention, making it clear that he would not be a partisan mayor.
Low defeated the incumbent Democrat
James Howell after a two-week campaign, 45,434 votes to 40,937.
Low's time in office was marked by a number of reforms:
* Low's major achievement as mayor was to secure a degree of "home rule" of the city. Previously, the State Government dictated city policies, hiring, salaries, and other affairs. Low managed to secure an unofficial veto over all Brooklyn bills in the State Assembly.
* Low instituted a number of educational reforms. He was the first to integrate Brooklyn schools.
He introduced free textbooks for all students, not just those who had taken a pauper's oath.
He instituted a competitive examination for hiring teachers, instead of giving teaching jobs to pay political debts.
Low set aside $430,000 for the construction of new schools to accommodate 10,000 new students.
* Low introduced Civil Service Code to all city employees, eliminating patronage jobs.
* German immigrants wanted to enjoy their local beer gardens on the Sabbath, in violation of state "dry" laws and the demands of local puritanical clergy. Low's compromise solution was that saloons could stay open as long as they were orderly.
At the first sign of rowdiness, they would be closed.
* Low served as a member of the board of the New York Bridge Company, the company that built the
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...
, and led an unsuccessful effort to remove
Washington Roebling
Washington Augustus Roebling (May 26, 1837 – July 21, 1926) was an American civil engineer who supervised the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, designed by his father John A. Roebling. He served in the Union Army during the American Civ ...
as the chief engineer on that project.
* Low raised the tax rate from $2.33 of $100 assessed valuation in 1881 to $2.59 in 1883.
He also went after property owners who had not paid back taxes.
This increase in city revenue enabled him to reduce the city's debt and increase services. However, raising taxes proved extremely unpopular.
Second term
Low's tax increases and non-partisan governing policy lost him a measure of public support. By 1883, fellow Republicans were criticizing Low openly, and the press was critical of his tax policy.
Although the Democrats ran the weak, nearly unknown candidate Joseph C. Hendrix in 1883, Low beat him by a slimmer margin than his first election. Where Low won his first term by 5,000 votes, he squeaked by re-election with only a 1,548-vote margin.
In 1884, Low's
mugwump
The Mugwumps were Republican political activists in the United States who were intensely opposed to political corruption. They were never formally organized. Typically they switched parties from the Republican Party by supporting Democratic ...
support of Democrat
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
in 1884 furthered the rift with his fellow Republicans. He declined to run for a third term in 1885, and refused to support Republican nominee General Isaac S. Catlin.
Instead, he supported a reform candidate, General John R. Woodward.
By this time, the public was losing their attraction to reform, and Democrat
Daniel D. Whitney
Daniel D. Whitney (January 31, 1819 – November 10, 1914) was a Brooklyn grocer and Mayor of Brooklyn from 1886 to 1887.
Early life
Whitney was born January 31, 1819 in Oyster Bay, New York. He moved to Brooklyn at age 18, and worked in a groce ...
won election. With Whitney came the return of Democratic machine politics for another seven years.
By 1892, some writers were looking back on Low's tenure as a "Golden Age" of clean government.
President of Columbia University
![Seth Low by Eastman Johnson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Seth_Low_by_Eastman_Johnson.png)
Following his tenure as mayor of Brooklyn, Low assumed the presidency of
Columbia College, serving between 1890 and 1901. Not an educator in the specific meaning of the word, he succeeded by his administrative skill in transforming the institution.
He led the move of the institution from
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
to
Morningside Heights, and secured trustee approval to change its name to "Columbia University". The new campus matched Low's vision of a civic university fully integrated into the city; the original design subsequently reconceived, left it open to the street and surrounding neighborhoods.
To forge a university, Low vitally united the various schools into one organization whose direction was moved from the separate faculties to a university council. Further reforms effected by him include the reorganization of the Law School, the addition of a faculty of pure science, the association of the University with the Teachers College, and the extension of the department of political and social study.
In 1895, he gave one million dollars of his inheritance from his father for
Low Memorial Library
The Low Memorial Library (nicknamed Low) is a building at the center of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building, located near 116th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenu ...
to be built at the new Columbia University campus. It was dedicated to his father and opened in 1897.
International Peace Conference
![Houghton MS Am 1308 (363) - Peace Conference 1899](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Houghton_MS_Am_1308_%28363%29_-_Peace_Conference_1899.jpg)
On July 4, 1899, he was one of the American delegates to attend the
International Peace Conference at
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
. Others in the delegation were
Andrew D. White
Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was an American historian and educator who cofounded Cornell University and served as its first president for nearly two decades. He was known for expanding the scope of college curricu ...
, then the United States Ambassador to the German Empire;
Stanford Newel of Minnesota, then the United States Minister to the Netherlands; Captain
Alfred Mahan
Alfred Thayer Mahan (; September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914) was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His book '' The Influence of Sea Power ...
, of the United States Navy; Captain
William Crozier William Crozier may refer to:
*William Crozier (artillerist) (1855–1942), American general, artillerist and inventor
*William Crozier (Scottish artist) (1893–1930)
* William Crozier (Irish artist) (1930–2011)
* William Crozier (cricketer) (187 ...
, of the United States Army; and
Frederick Holls of New York.
At the conference, Low made the concluding speech, printed two months later in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', saying:
Mayor of New York City
Low's first campaign for mayor of consolidated New York in 1897 was unsuccessful, partially because of a division among anti-
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
candidates and parties. However, four years later, he managed to attain office.
During his 1901 campaign, he had the support of humorist
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
. He and Twain made a joint appearance that drew a crowd of more than 2,000.
In 1902, Low resigned as president of the university to become the second mayor of the newly consolidated
City of New York
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. He stands out as the first mayor of Greater New York to be elected on a
fusion
Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole.
Fusion may also refer to:
Science and technology Physics
*Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
ticket, with the support of both the
Citizens Union
Citizens Union is a New York City-based good government group founded in 1897 to combat the influences of the Tammany Hall political machine. J. Pierpont Morgan, Benjamin Altman, Elihu Root, and Carl Schurz numbered among its 165 founders. In 1987 ...
and
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
parties. Some of his notable achievements include the introduction of a civil service system — based upon merit — for hiring municipal employees, reducing widespread graft within the
police department, improving the system of
education within the city, and lowering taxes. Despite these seemingly impressive achievements he only served for two years and was defeated in 1903 by Democrat
George B. McClellan Jr.
George Brinton McClellan Jr. (November 23, 1865November 30, 1940), was an American statesman, author, historian, and educator. The son of the American Civil War general and presidential candidate George B. McClellan, he was the 93rd Mayor of Ne ...
Later life
He was chairman of the
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature.
The campus was de ...
(formerly ''Tuskegee Institute''), a historically black college directed under
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
, from 1907 until 1916. From 1907, he was also president of the business-labor alliance the
National Civic Federation
The National Civic Federation (NCF) was an American economic organization founded in 1900 which brought together chosen representatives of big business and organized labor, as well as consumer advocates in an attempt to ameliorate labor disputes. I ...
. Even though he believed in collective bargaining rights, which had customarily been denied to labor unions by those in authority, he did not favor strikes, but rather embraced arbitration as a suitable labor-management negotiation tactic.
He was a founder and the first president of the Bureau of Charities of Brooklyn, and was elected vice-president of the
New York Academy of Sciences
The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wi ...
and president of the
Archaeological Institute of America.
Low became interested in the food supply problem, that is its contribution to the constantly increasing
cost of living
Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a cer ...
. He became convinced that this difficulty could best be solved by democratic cooperation among farmers and consumers. He was president of the Bedford Farmers' Cooperative Association. He was also one of the founders of the Cooperative Wholesale Corporation of New York City, an organization which seeks to bring about a business federation of all the
consumers' cooperative
A consumers' co-operative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such co-operatives operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a f ...
store societies in the eastern United States, but not being in sympathy with the radical tendency of this phase of the
cooperative movement
The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...
, he finally resigned and devoted himself entirely to the agricultural phase of cooperation. Low was also a trustee of the
Carnegie Institute of Washington, D.C.
[
In the Spring of 1916, Low became ill with cancer.] He died in his home in Bedford Hills, New York
Bedford Hills is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Bedford, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 3,001 at the 2010 census.
Two New York State prisons for women, Bedford Hills Correctional F ...
, on 1916-09-17. Even his funeral demonstrated the ability of Low to reach political consensus, with honorary pallbearers that included both financier and philanthropist J. P. Morgan Jr. and labor activist and AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
founder Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...
.
He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York.
The Brooklyn Fire Department
The Brooklyn Fire Department (BFD) was a professional fire department that provided fire protection and rescue services to the city of Brooklyn, New York, within modern-day New York City, from 1869 to 1898. The Brooklyn Fire Department, a paid ...
operated a fireboat
A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipmen ...
named ''Seth Low'' from 1885 to 1917.
In the Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22n ...
neighborhood of Brooklyn there is also a playground named after Low.
In Seth Low Pierrepont State Park Reserve, named after Low's nephew, there is a street named after Low called Seth Low Mountain Road.
Intermediate School 96 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn is known as Seth Low Intermediate School 96.
In the Brownsville section of Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York, there is a NYCHA
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the U ...
public housing development named Seth Low Houses. It consists of four 17 and 18 story buildings.
There was a Seth Low Junior College
The School of General Studies, Columbia University (GS) is a liberal arts college and one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights, New York City. GS is known primar ...
at Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
between 1928 and 1936.
See also
*List of mayors of New York City
The mayor of New York City is the chief executive of the Government of New York City, as stipulated by New York City's charter. The current officeholder, the 110th in the sequence of regular mayors, is Eric Adams, a member of the Democratic Pa ...
References
;Notes
;Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
Finding aid to Seth Low papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Seth
1850 births
1916 deaths
19th-century American politicians
American Geographical Society
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
Delegates to the Hague Peace Conferences
Mayors of Brooklyn
Mayors of New York City
New York (state) Republicans
People from Bedford Hills, New York
Politicians from Westchester County, New York
Poly Prep alumni
Presidents of Columbia University
Progressive Era in the United States
Presidents of the Archaeological Institute of America