Vanderbilt, Cornelius

Vanderbilt, Cornelius (1794–1877), shipping and railroad tycoon, financier.Born on Staten Island, New York, to poor Dutch parents, Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1810 borrowed a small sum from his family to begin a ferry service to Manhattan. He soon expanded into maritime trade, with shipping interests that included a steamship line that dominated East Coast shipping, and service to San Francisco with an overland segment through Nicaragua.

After the Civil War, Vanderbilt moved into railroads, acquiring the Hudson River line. Through further acquisitions, including the New York Central line, he created a system that extended past Buffalo to the Great Lakes. His reputation suffered, however, because he often bribed legislatures to insure their compliance. During the depression of 1873, he built Grand Central Station in New York City to provide a terminus for his railroads. His legend grew when he became embroiled in the bitter “Erie wars” with his former protégées Jay Gould and James Fisk for control of the Erie Railroad.

An avid stock market speculator, Vanderbilt often used the market to break his competitors financially. His fortune of over $100 million, left primarily to his son William, made him the wealthiest American of his day. Despite his reputation as a “robber baron,” Vanderbilt played a major role in consolidating steamship and rail transportation into systems that extended nationally and internationally.
See also Depressions, Economic; Gilded Age; Industrialization; Maritime Transport.

Bibliography

Wheaton J. Lane , Commodore Vanderbilt: An Epic of the Steam Age, 1942.
Edwin P. Hoyt , Commodore Vanderbilt, 1962.

Charles Geisst