BEAUTIFUL !!!! Thank you Wayne Duncan for posting. Cornelius Vanderbilt left school at age 11 and went on to build a shipping and railroad empire that, during the 19th century, made him one of the wealthiest men in the world. Starting with a single boat, he grew in size and power until he was competing with Robert Fulton for dominance of the New York waterways. Fultons company had established a monopoly on trade in and out of New York harbor. Vanderbilt, based in New Jersey at the time, flouted the law, steaming in and out of the harbor under a flag that read, New Jersey Must Be Free! He hired the attorney Daniel Webster to argue his case before the United States Supreme Court. Vanderbilt won, thereby establishing Americas first laws of Interstate Commerce. The Vanderbilt family lived on Staten Island until the mid 1800s, when the Commodore built a house on Washington Place. Although he always occupied a relatively modest home, members of his family would use their wealth to build magnificent mansions. Shortly before his death in 1877, Vanderbilt donated US$1 million for the establishment of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The Commodore left the majority of his enormous fortune to his eldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt. William Henry, who outlived his father by just eight years, increased the profitability of his fathers holdings, increased the reach of the New York Central and doubled the Vanderbilt wealth. He built the first of what would become many grand Vanderbilt mansions on Fifth Avenue, at 640 Fifth Avenue. His first son, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, was personally appointed by the Commodore to become the next Head of House. Cornelius II built the largest private home in New York, at 1 West 58th Street, containing approximately 154 rooms, designed by George Post. His brother, William Kissam Vanderbilt, also featured prominently in the familys affairs. He also built a magnificent home on Fifth Avenue and would become one of the great architectural patrons of the Gilded Age, personally hiring the architects for (the third, and surviving) Grand Central Terminal. George Washington Vanderbilt, youngest son of William Henry Vanderbilt, built Biltmore, in Asheville, North Carolina. In Newport, Rhode Island The Breakers, built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, and Marble House, built for William Kissam Vanderbilt, can be visited by the public.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 17:54:03 +0000
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