Business Magnates & Tycoons Codexery

Cornelius Vanderbilt

American business magnate in railroads and shipping.

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He is often labeled either a "captain of industry" or a "robber baron" due to his monopolistic practices and political manipulation.[1] At his death, he was the wealthiest man in the United States, with an estimated worth of $105 million.[2][3]

Key facts and history

Vanderbilt was born on Staten Island, New York, on May 27, 1794, and quit school at age 11 to work on his father's ferry.[4][3] In 1817 he became a steamboat captain for Thomas Gibbons, learning to manage a large business and helping fight a New York steamboat monopoly.[5] By the 1840s Vanderbilt owned a fleet of 100 steamships and was the largest employer in the United States.[3] He consolidated several lines into the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1870, one of the first giant U.S. corporations.[5]

His second wife, Frank Armstrong Crawford, convinced him to give $1 million to found Vanderbilt University in Nashville.[6] He purchased a two-masted sailing vessel called the Swiftsure, using funds borrowed from his mother according to one account, though an 1853 biography states the boat belonged to his father and Vanderbilt received half the profits.[7] When the California gold rush started in 1849, Vanderbilt launched a steamship service that traveled via Nicaraqua, reducing the journey to San Francisco by two days and making it 600 miles shorter.[3] In 1864, Vanderbilt sold his remaining ships to concentrate on railroads, and in 1863 he had gained control of the New York and Harlem Railroad, becoming its president.[5]

What the cited sources add

The New Netherland Institute account notes that Vanderbilt competed by charging as little as 18 cents per trip and obtained a government contract to supply forts around New York City.[3] That same source states that the Vanderbilt-Gibbons partnership charged only a quarter of the competitive fares.[3] According to the New Netherland Institute, Vanderbilt was a meticulous planner and hands-on manager of his businesses.[3] The McGerr article from Summer 2006 describes Vanderbilt's second marriage and his gift to found Vanderbilt University as the largest charitable gift in American history to that date.[6][8]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Cornelius Vanderbilt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Josephson, "The Robber Barons", Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, p. 13 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Cornelius Vanderbilt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cornelius Vanderbilt.; A Long And Useful Life Ended. The Renowned Commodore Dies After Eight Months' Illness His Remarkable Career As A Man Of The World His Wealth Estimated At $100,000,000 Particulars Of His Illness An; Vanderbilt, "Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt", Harper Collins, 1991, p. 49 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. "Cornelius Vanderbilt [1794-1877]", New Netherland Institute. facts only, no text reused. newnetherlandinstitute.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Cornelius Vanderbilt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cornelius Vanderbilt.; A Long And Useful Life Ended. The Renowned Commodore Dies After Eight Months' Illness His Remarkable Career As A Man Of The World His Wealth Estimated At $100,000,000 Particulars Of His Illness An (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Cornelius Vanderbilt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stiles, "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt", Knopf, 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Cornelius Vanderbilt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McGerr, "The Commodore's Strange Gift", Summer 2006, p. 46–53, 86; Knight, "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians: Embracing Episodes and Incidents in the Lives of the Great Men of the State, Volume 2", Franklin-Turner, 1908, p. 123 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Cornelius Vanderbilt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vanderbilt, "Fortune's Children", Sphere, 1989, p. 7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. McGerr, "The Commodore's Strange Gift", Summer 2006, p. 46–53, 86. facts only, no text reused. vanderbilt.edu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Cornelius Vanderbilt (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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