ipl-logo

Why Is Cornelius Vanderbilt Get The Greatest Award

802 Words4 Pages

Anthony Sforza

Cornelius Vanderbilt

“I have always served the public to the best of my ability. Why? Because, like every other man, it is to my interest to do so.” This shows that Cornelius Vanderbilt should get a life time achievement award because of his inventions he has made.

In the background of his life Cornelius Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794 and died on January 04, 1877. Cornelius Vanderbilt quit school by age 11 and made a decision to go work with his father on a boat. By the age of 13 he light made vessels lighter. At 16 years old Cornelius Vanderbilt and given 100 dollars by his parents he went and bought a small sailing boat and he named it piragua and after that he began a freight and passenger ferrying business between …show more content…

Cornelius Vanderbilt was a smart business man which caught people’s attention. He used low fares which made people use his company. Using low fares made his company sky rock threw the roof and just after 5 years he made over 25 millions dollars just from the railroad company (Gale 1). After his success he expanded the rails to the west. This was a big turning point for the railroad company, not only will it bring in more money to the company it will also have people travel farther instead of having short railroads, where they won't bring in more money and he created system spanning several states lowered costs, which increased efficiency, and sped up travel and shipment of goods (Gale 1). In 1870, Vanderbilt combined his two companies into one of the biggest corporations in American history, the New York Central and the Hudson Railroad. The new company had a stock capitalization of about $100 million. That is about 4 times as much as he made in the New York Central Station by itself …show more content…

When he turned 16 he bought a small sailing boat and he named it piragua and after that he began a freight and passenger ferrying business between Staten Island and New York (Gale 1). By using cheap fares Cornelius Vanderbilt was able to expand his company. In the 1840’s Cornelius Vanderbilt had a fleet of 100 steamboats due to the income of the cheap fares he had set out. Cornelius Vanderbilt was making so much money that other companies paid to leave the Hudson River. Cornelius Vanderbilt keeping buying different steamboat companies which is called robber baron. Due to the war of 1812 Cornelius Vanderbilt had the opportunity to expand his company and he did. Cornelius had signed a contract that he could supply military forts around New York and because of the amount of money he made he was able to expand even more. He expanded to the Long Island Sound, Providence, Boston and Connecticut. Cornelius Vanderbilt also added two more steamboats to the coast to help out on trade and transporting people (Encyclopedia World). When Cornelius Vanderbilt was 40 he went down south to transport people from the East Coast to the West Coast for the Gold Rush. Cornelius Vanderbilt made over 1 millions each year he started going down south with the steam boat company (Encyclopedia World). Cornelius Vanderbilt started using canal’s across Nicaragua. The United States . In the end, he could not attract enough

Show More
Related
926 Words | 4 Pages

In order for his business not to decline he sold all of his vessels and obtained a job working for Thomas Gibbons as steamship captain. As he was working for Gibbons for about ten years ferrying passengers from New Jersey to Manhattan; Cornelius learned how to operate and maintain a steamboat; as well as leaning the skills to operate his own steamboat company in 1829. Over the next decade. Cornelius in his mid-thirties controlled the traffic on the Hudson River. He achieved this by again offering lower rates and for the accommodations on the ships.

Read More
345 Words | 2 Pages

America has been changed due to the accomplishments of many entrepreneurs, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cornelius Vanderbilt started as the owner of one steamboat, and slowly built his one boat into a fleet of many boats. As the International Railroad was nearing completion Vanderbilt did the unthinkable he sold his entire company of boats and bought a rail line. Vanderbilt then began to slowly buy out other lines, until he eventually owned most of the lines in the east. Vanderbilt's net worth was eventually an astonishing 215 billion dollars in today's money.

Read More
426 Words | 2 Pages

Railroad tycoon and businessman, Cornelius Vanderbilt was a self-made millionaire in the 19th century. As a businessman who set the path for others, Cornelius Vanderbilt was born into humble circumstances on May 27, 1794 on Staten Island, New York. Cornelius Vanderbilt was a captain of industry. To begin with, Cornelius set the path for other businessmen.

Read More
813 Words | 4 Pages

In the list of the worst CEOs of all time (according to Conde Nast Portfolio), Jay Gould came in at number eight. He would be worth $71 billion dollars today and was one of the the worst robber barons in the 1800s. Jay Gould was born on May 27, 1836, in Roxbury, New York to Mary and John Gould. Jay Gould was an only child. Jay went to school at the Hobart Academy in New York, but he dropped out at the age of 16.

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

The railroad was first designed by George Stephenson whose original idea was to use steam to run the train and make transportation faster. When the US started using railroads and trains they purchased them from the Stephen Works company from Britain. “In the 1850s a boom in railroad development across the North was changing business organization and management and reducing freight costs. Railroads were influencing a rise in real estate values, increasing regional concentrations of industry, the size of business units and stimulating growth in investment banking and agriculture.

Read More
313 Words | 2 Pages

One impact of technological innovations is the transcontinental railroad and the advancement in railroad businesses thanks to Cornelius Vanderbilt. Due to the power of Vanderbilt he nearly transformed transportation as they knew it. Vanderbilt had many railroads going all over the country and so much power over the railroad business. He ran a monopoly on the railroad industry while still having some competition. Vanderbilt had bought out every competitor he had and thought himself unstoppable, till one day some people at the stock market created and created "fake" stocks in a certain rail company.

Read More
1191 Words | 5 Pages

Spanning from northern Minnesota to New Orleans, man quickly realized the Mississippi river could be used to transport cargo and people. With the invention of the steamboat, this idea quickly came into fruition, allowing cargo and people to travel long distances. But the river proved hazardous to traverse, with sandbars, reefs, and hanging branches especially the Upper Mississippi. Later, the construction of the Louisville and Portland canal helped expand commerce, allowing travel from Pittsburg to New Orleans. Abraham Lincoln at a young age became interested in steamboats, due to a childhood experience of earning money ferrying people across the river.

Read More
1017 Words | 5 Pages

During this time period there were great technological advancements. One of these advancements was railroads. Railroads were a positive change because it helped transport people and goods across the country. Businesses depended greatly upon transportation in order to transport their goods. Despite the positives of railroads, there were negatives.

Read More
860 Words | 4 Pages

Andrew Carnegie was a steel producer in the 19th century. He built himself a business from the ground up that earned him millions of dollars. Carnegie was an immigrant from Dunfermline, Scotland. As soon as he landed in the states he started building his business only at age 12. His hard work and determination helped him out in his later years.

Read More
847 Words | 4 Pages

Thomas Edison was a very passionate and talented inventor. In his lifetime he created a large amount of inventions. In some cases, the world would be completely different without those inventions, such as the light bulb. Thomas’ inventions changed the world as they knew it then. Edison inspired other inventors and gave them something to build off of.

Read More
1565 Words | 7 Pages

How significant were technological innovations during the First World War? World War one was a crucial turning point in war in general. At the beginning of the war cavalry played a massive part in military service and by the end of the war that was replaced with tanks. Yes, gas was used in war before hand

Read More
1457 Words | 6 Pages

Tesla in History Nikola Tesla was born in the 1850’s, to a father who was a preacher, and a mother who was a hard worker. It was July 9/10 in 1856. I say both 9th and 10th because he was born at between the two. He started to study physics and electricity even as a child and continued to do so in college.

Read More
964 Words | 4 Pages

Later on, during the Civil War, he donated his finest bought, the Vanderbilt, worth one million dollars, to the U.S. Navy. Though many sources may say that he did not donate it, the vast majority says that he did, in fact, donate the boat. Throughout the 1860s, Vanderbilt shifted his focus over to the railroad industry. Before he acquired multiple railroads, the railroad system was not unified, and therefore had different timetables, costs, and rolling stock. Vanderbilt changed this system, as by unifying multiple railroads, he was able to make the transportation business more efficient and was able to lower costs.

Read More
1266 Words | 6 Pages

In the case of Leland Stanford, his story embodies the revolving door of American politics, where businessmen enter politics and upon leaving the political sphere, go back to their business adventures. Stanford continued his work with the Central Pacific Railroad, eventually merging it with the Union Pacific to create the first American Transcontinental Railroad. But, the United States sued Stanford’s estate unsuccessfully for his handling of the Central Pacific Railroad’s federal grants and subsidies. Aside from Stanford’s dealings with the railroad, he invested his money into the university that bears his name. Along with Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon bears Andrew Carnegie’s name and Cornelius Vanderbilt built Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

Thomas Edison One of America’s Greatest Inventors Genius, inventor, and lightbulb are three of the many words used in relationship to Thomas Edison. Many know that Thomas Edison invented many things but being a genius did not come so naturally, Thomas did so much more. Thomas Edison changed the world by being a genius inventor by inventing many inventions like the longer lasting light bulb and the Kinetograph. He did this with a lot of hard work and commitment to help everybody. He left a legacy as one of America’s greatest inventors.

Read More

More about Why Is Cornelius Vanderbilt Get The Greatest Award

Related Topics

Open Document