The Rise of Industry

Key Figures and a Guide for Research

Basic Facts about the Rise of Industry in America

O Following the Civil War, advancements in technology made it possible for industries to grow at a rapid rate

O Railroads expand, introduction of steal, development of labor laws, invention of the assembly line, battle over electricity, invention of flight, development of the telephone, as well as the development of the banking industry

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt FactsO Connected many of the rail systems

that were already in place before the Civil War.

O Became the richest man in AmericaO Had Grand Central Station built in

New York City

Vanderbilt Cont. O Began

transporting people and cargo through the New York harbor at age 16

O became the dominant steamship presence on the Hudson River

O His competition bought him out.

O Capitalized on the Gold Rush of 1849 by providing cheap travel from New Orleans to Central America, then across land to another boat that ran up the pacific to San Francisco

O Again, Vanderbilt was bought out by his competitor and paid $50,000 a month to not run his operations

Vanderbilt Cont. O Entered the railroad

business in 1857O Controlled the New

York and Harlem Railroad

O Daniel Drew, James Fisk and Jay Gould would not allow Vanderbilt to buy the Erie Railroad

O Vanderbilt expanded his railroad through the purchase of other rail companies

O Connected Chicago with New York

O Created two thousands jobs for people during the Great Depression

O Died with a fortune of over $100,000,000.00

John D. Rockefeller

Rockefeller FactsO Dad was a traveling salesmanO Family moved from New York to

Strongsville, Ohio in 1853O In 1859, started his own business

with Maurice Clark

Rockefeller Cont.O Entered into the oil business in 1863O Expanded his business partners to 5

(Maurice Clark, Samuel Andrews, and two of Maurice Clark’s brothers)

O Rockefeller wanted to expand the business O Maurice and his brothers disagreed

with this decisionO Rockefeller bought them out for

$72,500O Roughly $1,072,050.65 in today’s

market

Rockefeller Cont.O Rockefeller and Andrews went on to create

Standard OilO Saw that the production of many oil companies

drove the price of oil down and there was a lot of wasted product.O Only solution in his mind was to make one large

businessO He purchased every refinery in Cleveland

O By 1867, he had combined his company with that of William Rockefeller & Co., Rockefeller & Andrews, Rockefeller & Co., and S. V. Harkness & H. M. Flagler

Rockefeller Cont.O By the early 1880s, he dominated the oil

business throughout the country and his company had a net worth of $55 million.

O In 1882, organized the Standard Oil Trust, a business trust that would serve as a model for the creation of other kinds of monopolies.

O 1800s states began to enact antimonopoly legislation, paving the way for the 1890 passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

O In 1895, retired from his day to day activities and focused more on philanthropy

Rockefeller Cont.O In 1911, the corporation was found

to be in violation of the Sherman Act and ordered to dissolve. 

O gave away more than $530 million to various causes

O Died on May 23, 1937

Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie FactsO Came to the United States at the age

of 13 in 1848O Began working in a factory in

Pennsylvania for $1.20 per week ($31.39 today)

O In 1853, he worked as the assistant and telegrapher to one of the railroad’s top officials, Thomas Scott

O Within three years, he was promoted to superintendent

Carnegie Cont.O Began investing in oilO Left the railroad business in 1865O Focused his efforts on the Keystone

Bridge CompanyO Wanted to connect the east with the west

by building a bridge across the Mississippi River

O First time steel was mass produced for construction (previously, steel was used to make tableware)

Carnegie Cont.O Over the next ten years, his time was dedicated

to the steel industryO By 1889, Carnegie Steel Corporation was the

largest steel corporation in the worldO Carnegie’s success came at the expense of his

workersO Homestead Strike of 1892

O Carnegie tried to lower the wages of his employees and the employees refused to work

O conflict between the workers and local managers turned violent after the managers called in guards to break up the union

Carnegie Cont.O He sold his business for

$200,000,000.00 ($5,432,476,994.07 today) to the United States Steel Corporation, started by legendary financier J.P. Morgan

O At the age of 65, he became a philanthropist.

O Carnegie died on August 11, 1919 in Lenox, Massachusetts

J.P Morgan

JP Morgan FactsO Born on April 17, 1837 in Hartford,

ConnecticutO Son of a bankerO After working for his father, he

started his own private banking company in 1871, which later became known as J.P. Morgan & Co.

O The U.S. government looked to J.P. Morgan & Co. for help with the depression of 1895

Morgan Cont.O He was criticized for creating

monopolies by making it difficult for any business to compete against his

O Dominated two industriesO He helped consolidate the railroad

industry in the East as well as formed the United States Steel Corporation in 1901

O U.S. Steel became the world’s largest steel manufacturer

Morgan Cont.O The government, concerned that

Morgan had created a monopoly in the steel industry, filed suit against the company in 1911

O Morgan died on March 31, 1913 in Rome, Italy

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison FactsO Born on February 11, 1847 in Milan,

OhioO Scarlet fever left him with hearing

difficulties in both earsO In 1854, the family moved from Port

Huron, Michigan, where Edison attended public school for a total of 12 weeksO Edison was considered Hyperactive,

and he was deemed a difficult child by his teacher

O His mother home schooled him

Edison Cont.O Published his own small newspaper

called the Grand Trunk HeraldO Sold copies to passengers on the

Grand Trunk Railroad lineO While working on the railroad, Edison

saved a three year old from being run over by an errant train. The child’s father was so grateful that he rewarded Edison by teaching him to operate a telegraph

Edison Cont.O Goes on to Boston and begins

working for the Western Union Company

O With the success of his stock ticker, he quit working as a telegrapher to devote himself to full-time inventing

O In 1870, Thomas Edison set up his first small laboratory and manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey

Edison Cont.O By the early 1870s, Edison had

acquired a reputation as a first rate inventor

O Western Union encouraged him to develop a communication device to compete with Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone. Edison never did.

O Was partners with Nikola Tesla before they parted ways over their dispute regarding AC or DC power

Edison Cont.O Edison disagreed so strongly against Tesla

the he developed a public vendetta against Tesla, and he wanted to show the dangers of AC (Alternating Current) power

O This disagreement led to the “Current Wars”O Edison was granted a patent for the light

bulb in January of 1880O Edison founded the Edison Illuminating

Company, which later became the General Electric Corporation

Edison Cont.O Perfected the phonograph, and developed the

motion picture camera as well as the alkaline storage battery

O In 1912, Edison designed a battery for te self-starter on the Model T for a friend and admirer, Henry Ford. The system was used in the auto industry for decades.

O Was employed by the United States Government to invent technology for the military. Vowed only to create technology for defense and never to create weapons to destroy

Edison Cont.O Applied for 1,093 U.S. PatentsO Died at the age of 84 of

complications with diabetes on October 18, 1931 in his home, “Glenmont”, in West Orange, New Jersey

Henry Ford

Henry Ford FactsO Born on July 30, 1863 on his family’s farm

near Dearborn, MichiganO Unsatisfied with farm work, Ford left home at

the age of 16 to take an apprenticeship as a machinist in Detroit

O In 1888, Ford married Clara Ala Bryant and briefly returned to farming to support his wife and son, Edsel.

O Three years later, he was hired as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company

Ford Cont.O Ford developed his plans for a

horseless carriage, and in 1896 he constructed his first model

O Attended a meeting with Edison executives and found himself presenting his automobile plans to Thomas Edison

O After a few trials building cars as well as companies, in 1903 Henry Ford established the Ford Motor Company

Ford Cont.O Introduced the Model T in October of

1908O Renowned for his revolutionary

vision: the manufacture of an inexpensive automobile made by skilled workers who earn a steady wage.

O In 1914, he sponsored the development of the moving assembly line technique of mass production

Ford Cont.O Introduced the world to the $5.00

day ($110.00 today)O Half of all cars in America in 1918

were Ford’s Model TsO Ford died of a cerebral hemorrhage

on April 7, 1947 at the age of 83 near his Dearborn estate, Fair Lane.

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell Facts

O Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

O At 16, Alexander Graham Bell accepted a position at Weston House Academy in Elgin, ScotlandO taught elocution and music to students,

many older than heO Between 1865 and 1870, Alexander

Graham Bell’s family suffered many loses (two of his brothers died)

Bell Cont.O Because the Americas offered

healthier living conditions, the Bell family moved to Brantford, Ontario, Canada where Alexander Graham Bell’s health began to greatly improve.

O In 1871, Alexander Graham Bell began teaching at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes.

Bell Cont.O In 1872, he set out on his own, tutoring

deaf children in Boston. His association with two students, George Sanders and Mabel Hubbard, would set him on a new course.

O After one of his tutoring sessions with Mabel, Bell shared with her father, Gardiner, his ideas of how several telegraph transmissions might be sent on the same wire if they were transmitted on different harmonic frequencies.

Bell Cont.O Between 1873 and 1874, Alexander Graham

Bell spent long days and nights trying to perfect the harmonic telegraph. But his attention became sidetracked with another idea: transmitting the human voice over wires.

O Through 1874 and 1875, Bell and Thomas Watson (Watson was an electrician who was assigned to Bell to help him complete the harmonic telegraph) labored on both the harmonic telegraph and a voice transmitting device.

Bell Cont.O Patented the idea of the telephone

before the telephone was ever created.

O On March 10, 1876, Watson heard Bell's voice through the wire and thus received the first telephone call.

O Bell conducted a series of public demonstrations, ever increasing the distance between the two telephones

Bell Cont.O The Bell Telephone Company was

organized on July 9, 1877.O Between the years 1877 and 1886, the

number of people in the United States who owned telephones grew to more than 150,000, and during this time, improvements were made on the device, including the addition of a microphone, invented by Thomas Edison, which eliminated the need to shout into the telephone to be heard.

Bell Cont.O Bell went on to developed a metal jacket to

assist patients with lung problems, conceptualized the process for producing methane gas from waste material, developed a metal detector to locate bullets in bodies and invented an audiometer to test a person's hearing.

O Alexander Graham Bell died peacefully, with his wife by his side, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on August 2, 1922. The entire telephone system was shut down for one minute in tribute to his life.

The Wright BrothersOrrville Wright Wilbur Wright

The Wright Brothers Facts

O Wilbur Wright was born April 16, 1867

O Spring of 1869, Wright family moves to Dayton, Ohio.

O Orville Wright was born August 19, 1871

O Upon his return from a church business trip, Bishop Milton Wright brings home a toy Penaud helicopter. The toy inspires Wilbur and Orville's first interest in flight.

Wright Brothers Cont. O July 4, 1889, Wilbur and Orville's

mother, Susan Catherine Koerner Wright, dies at age 58.

O December of 1892, Orville and Wilbur open a bicycle shop, the Wright Cycle Company. They remain in the bicycle manufacturing and repair business until 1907. The business gives them the funds necessary to carry out their early aeronautical experiments.

Wright Brothers Cont.O Wilbur and Orville attend World's

Columbian Exposition in Chicago where the aeronautical exhibit draws their interest.

O In 1896, Wright brothers begin to manufacture their own brand of bicycles-- first the Van Cleve and the "Wright Special," and later the less expensive St. Clair.

Wright Brothers Cont.O From 1897-1898, while running their

bicycle business, Wilbur and Orville study the problems of mechanical and human flight. After reading extensively and studying bird flight and Lilienthal's work, the brothers are convinced that human flight is possible and decide to conduct some experiments of their own.

Wright Brothers Cont.O Brothers build and Wilbur flies a biplane kite

in order to test the "wing-warping" method of controlling a flying machine. This experiment encourages the Wrights to proceed with constructing a flying machine with a pilot.

O In October of 1900, Wrights begin their experiments at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, flying their glider as a kite and as a man-carrying glider. About a dozen free flights are made although total time in the air is only about two minutes.

Wright Brothers Cont.O Wrights arrive in Kitty Hawk on July

10, 1901, and begin experiments with a larger glider. From fifty to one hundred flights are made in July and August, ranging in distance from twenty to almost four hundred feet.

O Wright brothers apply for a patent on their flying machine (patent issued May 22, 1906).

Wright Brothers Cont.O On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville

make the first free, controlled, and sustained flights in a power-driven, heavier-than-air machine. Three men from the Kill Devil Life Saving Station and two from Nags Head witness the four trial flights. First trial is made by Orville at 10:35 A.M., stays twelve seconds in the air, and flies 120 feet. John T. Daniels photographs the first flight with Orville's camera. Wilbur makes the longest flight in the fourth trial, fifty-nine seconds in the air and 852 feet.

Wright Brothers Cont.O The Wright brothers try to sell their airplane to

the U.S. Board of Ordnance and Fortification twice and fail each time

O On February 8, 1908, Wrights' bid to furnish a flying machine to U.S. War Department for $25,000 is accepted.

O Orville is seriously injured and his passenger, Lt. Thomas Selfridge, is killed in an airplane crash at Fort Meyer. Airplane crashes to the ground from a height of about seventy-five feet after a propeller blade breaks and the machine goes out of control. Selfridge is the first airplane fatality.

Wright Brothers Cont.O May 30, 1912, Wilbur dies of typhoid fever in

Dayton.O Orville battles other manufacturers over

patent infringement for many years to come.O In July of 1940, the 1903 Wright airplane that

was on exhibit at the Science Museum in London dismantled and packed away for safekeeping during World War II.

O January 30, 1948, Orville dies of heart attack in Dayton.