Below are some of the United States' pioneer industrialists, who earned their fortunes through coal, oil, iron, and the industries that depended on them. The rise of U.S. industry made America's economy the biggest and strongest in the world. Their "vertical integration" changed the way industry would work. But, their incredible wealth and mansions were gotten at the expense of the laborers, who were poorly paid, and worked long hard hours many times, in unsafe conditions. They became known as "Robber Barons".
Click on their names below, or scroll down.
Andrew Carnegie 1835-1919
Carnegie, who immigrated from
Scotland with his parents, became one of the world's richest men. His rise to
power in the steel industry changed industry in America forever. He ruled the
steel industry by using "vertical integration" .
Vertical integration was Carnegie's method of owning
the industries (coke, iron & railroad) that supported his steel industry.
This way, he paid less to make his steel, and was able to sell his steel for
less. So, the majority of people bought his steel.
Carnegie didn't pay his workers much. And when they
organized for better pay and working conditions, he locked them out and replaced
them, he also had hired guns (Pinkertons) intimidate the workers. These
strategies stopped organized labor in the U.S. for many years.
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Henry C. Frick 1849-1919
Frick built and operated coke
ovens near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1889, he controlled two-thirds of the
amount there. As the chairman of Carnegie Steel, Frick directed the company's
actions during the Homestead, Pennsylvania labor strike in 1892, as Carnegie was
vacationing in Scotland. At Homstead, Frick was shot and stabbed by Alexander
Berkman. He was the director of U.S. Steel Corporation in 1901, and bequeathed
money, land and even his own home and art collection to the public.
Jay Gould 1836-1892
Gould was a railroad
financier. Holding a position on the board of directors of The Erie Railroad,
Gould earned a terrible reputation. He devalued company stock and tried to
"corner the market" in gold, triggering the U.S. Stock Market panic,
"Black Friday" on September 24, 1869.
Edward H. Harriman
1848-1909
Harriman was a financier and a railroad executive. This "robber
baron" had a reputation for ruthlessness in
all of his business dealings.
J. Pierpont Morgan
J. Pierpont Morgan was born in 1837, and he died in 1913. He created
U.S. steel. He was a banker and an art collector, and he started to collect art.
His collection is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library in
New York, and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, today. His
firm financed General Electric and International Harvester.
John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller was born in 1839, and died in
1937. He was an industrialist and a philanthropist, and he created the Standard
Oil Company, and the American petroleum industry. In 1859, the first successful
oil drilling took place in western Pennsylvania. That event made Rockefeller
realize that Cleveland was a good place for oil drilling, and in 1863 he built
his first refinery in partnership with others. The
early oil business was dangerous. Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, and others created
the Standard Oil Company. In 1870, Rockefeller owned 26.7% of the stock. Back
then, railroad rebates and predatory pricing were legal, so the Standard Oil
Company used those to increase its hold over the American oil industry,
until it controlled 90% of it in 1880.
Rockefeller was active in the
Baptist church, and he began giving contributions to the charity. He gave
$600,000 to help build the University of Chicago, in 1889, and he donated $550
million to worthy causes.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
1794-1877
Steamship and railroad promoter and financier,
Vanderbilt, controlled numerous ferry, steamship and railroad lines. His
nickname was "Commodore" because
he was the leading shipmaster in New York.