In 1828, he moved to Ithaca, New York, where he managed a flouring mill and other factories along the Fall Creek.

In 1865, Cornell became the chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees, a position he would hold until his death, and he proceeded to help the newly established institution grow by securing its designation as New York's land-grant university and donating 200 acres (81 ha) of land and $500,000 in cash.

[4] In 1915, the Board of Trustees commissioned sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil to design a bronze statue honoring their university's namesake.

[7] He was hired by Robert H. Thurston, the dean of the mechanical engineering program at Cornell, who later encouraged MacNeil to further his training in Europe.

[15][14] The year after the statue's dedication, images of the monument were displayed at an annual exhibition held by the Architectural League of New York.

The monument consists of a bronze statue of Cornell atop a red granite pedestal.

On the front of the pedestal is inscribed the following:[22] EZRA CORNELLMDCCCVII–MDCCCLXXIVThe statue depicts Cornell wearing a frock coat, with a wide-brimmed hat in his right hand, which is resting on a walking cane.