Cornelius vanderbilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt, American shipping and railroad magnate who acquired a personal fortune of more than $100 million. Vanderbilt began his transportation empire by operating a ferryboat between Staten Island and New York City. By the 1850s he had shifted his focus from steamships to railroads.

When William Henry Vanderbilt, the richest man in the world at the time, died, he left the most of his $200 million estate divided equally between his 2 eldest sons, Cornelius "Corneil" and William "Willie". Cornelius was older than William so Alice, Cornelius's wife, assumed that Cornelius was head of the Vanderbilt family, plus Cornelius had also been given an extra $2 million plus the portrait and marble bust of Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, objects that had always been given to the…

With all of the media coverage about Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, it’s easy to forget that many of the gutsiest moves in business history happened long before Bill Gates was even a twinkle in his mother’s eye. In learning about the tycoons who built America (there’s [...]

Cornelius Vanderbilt Nathaniel Jocelyn Oil on canvas, 1846 29 15/16 x 25 inches National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (NPG.78.281) Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), also known by the sobriquet Commodore,[1] was an American entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads and was the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family.

Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794‑1877) was a shipping and railroad tycoon, and a self‑made multi‑millionaire who became one of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century.

For much of the Gilded Age, the spacious and tidy residential blocks on Fifth Avenue between 50th Street and Central Park South were New York City’s millionaire mile. The members of one supre…

The largest home in New York City ever built at the time, and still the largest home ever built there, the Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion was truly a masterpiece. Occupying an entire full block, it had around 130 rooms. Among those rooms was a ballroom, an art gallery/dining room, a grand salon, small salon, drawing room, library, water color reception room, smoking room (the Moorish Room), an office, breakfast room, service pantries, 2-story great hall, more than 17 bedrooms, more than 6…

Download this stock image: Colorized view, looking north across the intersection of 5th Avenue and 57th Street, of the Cornelius Vanderbilt II House, New York, New York, May 1910. The home, built in 1883 was the largest private home in Manhattan. Visible above it is the Plaza Hotel. (Photo by Burton Holmes) - CXAARG from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors.

Rear View: Dollars to dust.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was a hard man. Unsentimental, he earned a national reputation for taking care of himself. When the Civil War began, no one imagined he would turn out to be a selfless patriot.