Northrop, Cyrus, 1834-1922

Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at Yale. President of the University of Minnesota 1884-1911.

College president, educator, and public official from Connecticut.

Cyrus Northrop was the second president of the University of Minnesota.

Cyrus Northrop was born in 1834 in Ridgefield Connecticut. He attended Yale University, graduating in 1857, and then went on to be a clerk in the Connecticut House of Representatives and Senate, editor of the New Haven Palladium, and was professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at Yale, from 1863 to 1884. In 1884 he was invited, and agreed, to become the second president of the University of Minnesota. Between 1884 and 1910, Northrop's term as president saw dramatic growth and change at the University. When he first came, there were 30 faculty members and 250 students. Upon his retirement there were 442 faculty members, and 6,038 students. The campuses of the University also increased in size and material greatly. He resigned the presidency and retired in 1910, remaining in Minnesota until his death in 1922.