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	The Low Legacy
	Seth Low Play Video Read Transcript Seth Low announced on May 6, 1895, that he would give a donation of up to $1 million for the construction of Low Library as a memorial to his father, "a merchant who taught his son to value the things for which Columbia College stands." Professor Andrew Dolkart explains how the wealth generated from commerce in New York had a direct effect on the construction of the great institutional buildings in the city. The last stone on the Low Library dome was set on June 14, 1897.
	Video Transcript
	Because of the presence of the port—and because of the industry and commerce in New York—immigrants settled in the city and gave the area its unique character as a center for immigrants. And because of the business and the wealth that was generated from commerce, New Yorkers built the great institutional buildings that the city became known for. The libraries, the museums, and the other institutional buildings were all paid for with the wealth that was generated in the commercial sector. One of the people that really exemplifies this is the great China trader Abiel Abbot Low. Abiel Abbot Low was the wealthiest China trader in New York. He had his commercial establishment on John Street, and with the money generated from the China trade, Low constructed one of the largest mansions ever built in New York, on Pierpont Place in Brooklyn Heights, which overlooked the harbor so that he could actually watch for his schooners to come in. His son, Seth Low, decided that he did not want to go into the family business, but instead, he wanted to get involved in good works in New York. Seth Low eventually served as the mayor of Brooklyn and then became the president of Columbia University. And it was the money that he inherited from his father's China-trade fortune that built the great Low Library at Columbia University. So there is a direct connection between the money that was generated by trade in New York and the great institutional flowering in the city during the latter part of the nineteenth century when campuses like Columbia's were built. Back to Top