Townsend Harris 1804-1878

Townsend Harris, the founder of The City College of New York, and the first American diplomatic representative in Japan, made efforts throughout his life to bridge the worlds of different people. Although he was a successful businessman who was active in New York civic affairs and comfortable in uptown parlors, as a self-educated man, he was aware of his own humble origins. He was not afraid to visit the slums of lower Manhattan and speak to the immigrant youth in the taverns where they expressed their frustrations about not being able to obtain an education and rise from their working-class existence.

Townsend Harris was born October 3, 1804, in the town of Sandy Hill, now Hudson Falls, New York. His father, Jonathan Harris, was the village magistrate as well as a hatter who owned peach orchards. His mother was Eleanor Watson. Townsend had four older brothers and one sister, and he was named for his grandmother, Thankful Townsend.

Townsend was an eager young scholar and he was rather disappointed when he finished junior high school to find out that his family could not afford to send him to a preparatory school, much less to college. Instead, when he was 13 years old he traveled to New York City to join his older brother, John, in his porcelain import business. Townsend excelled in his duties keeping the records of this business, so John invited Townsend to become the junior partner of the firm at 16 years of age.

Harris became interested in the civic affairs of his adopted community. First he became a member of one of the volunteer fire companies that preceded the establishment of the Metropolitan District paid fire-fighting company in 1865. Later he became active in Democratic Party affairs in New York and was the President of the New York City Board of Education from 1846 to 1848.