The Vanderbilts – you may recognize that name from Vanderbilt University, also known as “Harvard of the South.” Although that University was actually started by a [complete thought], The Vanderbilts gained their fame and glory through the Gilded Age, where they built their extravagant mansions known as the “The Breakers”, “The Elms”, and “The Marble House” to only name a few. Newport, Rhode Island is the city of the Vanderbilts so you should definitely take a trip there to learn more about the affluent family! We have to talk about where this all started – and that is with a single man.
Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Early Life
This famous line of Vanderbilts started off with the self made millionaire, Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was an American shipping and railroad magnate who earned a personal fortune of around $100 million. Born in 1794, Cornelius quit school at the age of 11 to work on the waterfront. He carried passengers from Staten Island to NYC using a ferry he borrowed from his parents for a small price. During the war of 1812, he partnered with the government and enlarged his fleets where he supplied government outposts throughout the city. By the Age of 18, Cornelius was given the name “Commodore,” which he fully embraced. Through aggressive marketing, shrewd deals and undercutting the competition—traits that he would practice all his life—he earned more than $1,000 in his first year.
His Shipping Empire
He expanded his ferry business but soon sold all his boats and went into the area of steamships and worked for Thomas Gibbons as a steamship captain. During the next decade or so, he gained control of the Hudson River, NYC by promising (and delivering) unmatched luxury on his ships, undercutting his competitors. Capitalizing on the populist language of President Andrew Jackson, he named his service the “People’s Line,” offering cheap fares for all. Implementing this business model several times made Vanderbilt a millionaire by 1846.
Nevertheless, this wealth didn’t earn Cornelius respect among the other rich and elite in New York and nearby areas. His handwriting was nearly illegible, his grammar atrocious and laced with profanity. Yet – he didn’t care. He despised ostentation, living a relatively simple and disciplined life.
Cornelius Vanderbilt’s “Modest” estate. [Image from google.com]
The Famous Railroad Empire
During the Civil War, Cornelius donated all his fleets to the Union Navy. By 1864, he has amassed a wealth of $30 million through his previous business. At age 70, Cornelius has turned his attention more closely to railroads, acquiring the New York & Harlem and Hudson Line. He revolutionized railroads by standardizing procedures and timetables, increasing efficiency and decreasing travel and shipment times.
In 1871, Vanderbilt financed a monument to his empire: the Grand Central Depot. The terminal for the New York Central Railroad was constructed with features like elevated platforms, a glass balloon roof spanning all of the tracks and boarding areas only accessible to the passengers.
Final Years
In 1876, Vanderbilt became ill and began an eight-month death march. Keeping with his pugnacious personality, he was a horrible patient who raged at his doctors, calling them “old grannies” and at one point leaving his death bed to lecture reporters who were standing vigil outside his house. Quite the fun fact I must say. When he did die, he stated that he would set aside $1 million of his fortune to create Vanderbilt University. It’s surprising that with his stingy personality that he even gave any money out!
Others invented and established the use of steamships and railroads; Cornelius’s talent was for seeing how to maximize their uses. This ultimately made him the second richest man in America after John D. Rockefeller.
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