Augustus Russell Street (November 5, 1792 – June 12, 1866) was a
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
who made significant donations to
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
.
Biography
He was born in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
, the son of Titus Street (1758-1842), the founder of
Streetsboro Township, Ohio, and his wife, née Amaryllis Atwater (1764-1812). He was graduated from Yale in 1812 where he studied law, but he abandoned the profession for health reasons. He traveled in Europe from 1843 to 1848 studying art and modern languages. He inherited a fortune and used it for philanthropic endeavors.
He gave Yale its
School of Fine Arts;
Street Hall, named for him, was designed by
Peter Bonnett Wight. He also established the Street Professorship of Modern Languages and the Titus Street Professorship in the Yale Theological department.
He married Caroline Mary Leffingwell on October 16, 1815; they had seven daughters, all of whom predeceased them. Only the eldest, Caroline Augusta Street, married and had children; her husband was Admiral
Andrew Hull Foote.
Street died in New Haven on June 12, 1866.
References
*''Yale Obituary Record'', 1865-6, p. 195.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Street, Augustus Russell
1792 births
1866 deaths
Yale University alumni
19th-century American philanthropists