-
Edwin Drake drilled the first big mechanical oil well in Titusville, Pa.
-
a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, signaling the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. The transcontinental railroad had long been a dream for people living in the American West.
-
Standard Oil Co. Inc. was an American oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established by John D. Rockefeller as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refinery in the world of its time.
-
American inventor Alexander Graham Bell tested his telephone calling his assistant to say "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you." Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone.
-
President Rutherford B. Hayes has the White House's first telephone installed in the mansion's telegraph room. President Hayes embraced the new technology, though he rarely received phone calls.
-
Thomas Edison perfects the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb. Using a filament of carbonized cotton thread, his first attempt at this design results in a bulb that lasts about 13.5 hours before burning out. He later extends the life of the bulb to 40 hours.
-
Operators of the new railroad lines needed a new time plan that would offer a uniform train schedule for departures and arrivals. Four standard time zones for the continental United States were introduced.
-
The Richmond Union Passenger Railway, in Richmond, Virginia, was the first practical electric trolley (tram) system, and set the pattern for most subsequent electric trolley systems around the world.
-
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices.
-
Carnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company primarily created by Andrew Carnegie and several close associates, to manage businesses at steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century.
-
J.P. Morgan created the United States Steel Corporation. The company dominated the steel market during the first half of the twentieth century, and for a time, U.S. Steel was the largest corporation in the United States,
