Founded in 1854 as Brooklyn Collegiate & Polytechnic Institute, Polytechnic University is the United States' second oldest private research institution devoted to science and engineering education. In the 120 years between students in knickerbockers and NASA research, the institute underwent many changes in name and facilities, eventually housing laboratories, libraries, classrooms and offices in over a dozen locations throughout Brooklyn, Long Island and Manhattan. By 1957 the Institute consolidated educational-research facilities at 333 Jay Street in Brooklyn, and shortly thereafter established state-of-the-art aerospace laboratories in Long Island, NY, of which President John F. Kennedy said, "The educational resources of the nation are enriched by the recent addition of the Long Island Graduate Center of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. In a society where the demand for a high degree of training in the sciences and engineering is constantly growing, a new center equipped to provide graduates education in these fields is a national asset."