- Vanderbilt, Cornelius
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born May 27, 1794, Port Richmond, Staten Island, N.Y., U.S.died Jan. 4, 1877, New York, N.Y.U.S. shipping and railroad magnate.He began a passenger ferry business in New York harbour in 1810 with one boat; he added several others during the War of 1812 in order to supply government outposts. He sold his boats to work as a steamship captain (1818–29), then started his own steamship company on the Hudson River. By cutting fares and offering luxurious accommodations, he soon controlled the river traffic. He then provided transportation along the eastern seacoast. By 1846 he was a millionaire. He formed the Accessory Transit Co. to transport passengers and freight from New York to the California gold fields via Nicaragua. He again undercut his competitors, and they bought him out at a high price (1858). Turning to railroads, he acquired controlling stock in the New York and Harlem Railroad. After losing a battle for control of the Erie Railroad (1868), he bought and consolidated the Hudson River and the New York Central railroads (1869). After buying the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad (1873), he provided the first rail service between New York and Chicago. At his death, he had a fortune of more than $100 million, the largest sum accumulated in the U.S. to that date. He gave $1 million to Central University (later Vanderbilt University). He left almost all the rest to his son William H. Vanderbilt (1821–85), who greatly expanded the New York Central network, acquired other railroads, and doubled the family fortune.
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▪ American industrialist and philanthropistborn May 27, 1794, Port Richmond, Staten Island, N.Y., U.S.died Jan. 4, 1877, New York, N.Y.American shipping and railroad magnate who acquired a personal fortune of more than $100,000,000.The son of an impoverished farmer and boatman, Vanderbilt quit school at age 11 to work on the waterfront. In 1810 he purchased his first boat with money borrowed from his parents. He used the boat to ferry passengers between Staten Island and New York City; then, during the War of 1812, he enlarged his operation to a small fleet with which he supplied government outposts around the city.Vanderbilt expanded his ferry operation still further following the war, but in 1818 he sold all his boats and went to work for Thomas Gibbons as steamship captain. While in Gibbons' employ (1818–29), Vanderbilt learned the steamship business and acquired the capital that he used in 1829 to start his own steamship company.During the next decade, Vanderbilt gained control of the traffic on the Hudson River by cutting fares and offering unprecedented luxury on his ships. His hard-pressed competitors finally paid him handsomely in return for Vanderbilt's agreement to move his operation. He then concentrated on the northeastern seaboard, offering transportation from Long Island to Providence and Boston. By 1846 the Commodore was a millionaire.The following year, he formed a company to transport passengers and goods from New York City and New Orleans to San Francisco via Nicaragua. With the enormous demand for passage to the West Coast brought about by the 1849 gold rush, Vanderbilt's Accessory Transit Company proved a huge success. He quit the business only after his competitors—whom he had nearly ruined—agreed to pay him $40,000 (later it rose to $56,000) a month to abandon his operation.By the 1850s he had turned his attention to railroads (railroad), buying up so much stock in the New York and Harlem Railroad that by 1863 he owned the line. He later acquired the Hudson River Railroad and the New York Central Railroad and consolidated them in 1869. When he added the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad in 1873, Vanderbilt was able to offer the first rail service from New York City to Chicago.During the last years of his life, Vanderbilt ordered the construction of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, a project that gave jobs to thousands who had become unemployed during the Panic of 1873. Although never interested in philanthropy while acquiring the bulk of his huge fortune, later in his life he did give $1,000,000 to Central University in Nashville, Tenn. (later Vanderbilt University). In his will he left $90,000,000 to his son William Henry, $7,500,000 to William's four sons, and—consistent with his lifelong contempt for women—the relatively small remainder to his second wife and his eight daughters.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
