Cyrus Northrop

Cyrus Northrop (September 30, 1834 – April 3, 1922) was an American university administrator and the second president of the University of Minnesota.

Early life

Cyrus Northrop, Sr. was born in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale University in 1857 where he was a member of both Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. 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.

He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1857.

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."

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

When asked to speak at the dedication of a cemetery outdoors in cold rain, Northrop said, "I hope you will excuse me for not removing my hat, as I have no desire to contribute personally to the success of this enterprise."

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." He is also the namesake of the city of Northrop, Minnesota. The Northrop Collegiate School for Girls (later absorbed into The Blake School) was likewise named in Northrop's honor.

Northrop died on 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, 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.

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