Famous Givers and Their GiftsBolton, Sarah Knowles
History
Famous Givers and Their Gifts
Bolton, Sarah Knowles
Philanthropists
When the next Founder's Day came, Mr. Pratt was gone, and the Institute
was in the hands of others. At the close of a day of work and thought in
his New York office, Mr. Pratt fell at his post, May 4, 1891, and was
carried to his home in Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn. After the funeral, May
7, memorial services were held in the Emmanuel Baptist Church on Sunday
afternoon, May 17, with addresses by distinguished men who loved and
honored him.
A beautiful memorial chapel was erected by his family on his estate at
Dosoris, Glen Cove, Long Island; and there the body of Mr. Pratt was
buried, July 31, 1894. The chapel is of granite, in the Romanesque
style, with exquisite stained glass windows. The main room is wainscoted
with polished red granite, the arching ceiling lined with glass mosaic
in blue, gold, and green. At the farther end, in a semi-circular apse
reached by two steps through an imposing arch, stands the sarcophagus of
Siena marble, with the name, Charles Pratt, and dates of birth and
death. The campanile contains the chime of bells so admired by everybody
who visited the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, and heard it ring out
from the central clock tower in the Building of Manufactures and Liberal
Arts. Few, comparatively, will ever see this monument erected by a
devoted family to a husband and father; but thousands upon thousands
will see the monument which Mr. Pratt built for himself in his noble
Institute. Every year thousands come to learn its methods and to copy
some of its features, even from Africa and South America. The Earl of
Meath, who has done so much for the improvement of his race, said to Dr.
Cuyler, "Of all the good things I have seen in America, there is none
that I would so like to carry back to London as this splendid
establishment."
One may read in Baedeker's "Guide Book of the United States"
instructions how to find "the extensive buildings of Pratt Institute,
one of the best-equipped technical institutions in the world. None
interested in technical education should fail to visit this
institution."
During his life, Mr. Pratt gave to the Institute about $3,700,000, and
thus had the pleasure of seeing it bear fruit. Of this, $2,000,000 is
the endowment fund. Small charges are made to the pupils, but not nearly
enough to pay the running expenses. Mr. Pratt's sons are nobly carrying
forward the work left to their care by their father, who died in the
midst of his labors. Playgrounds have been laid out, a gymnasium
provided, new buildings erected, and other measures adopted which they
feel that their father would approve were he alive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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