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On August 28 1859, George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake made the first successful attempt of using a drilling rig on a well drilled only to produce oil, at a site on Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania.
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At Promontory Summit, Utah, the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad connected on May 10, 1869 after 1,776 miles of track had been laid over six years.
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In 1870, John D. Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, along with his younger brother William, Henry Flagler and a group of other men.
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On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone. Three days later Bell and his associate Thomas Watson successfully tested their invention.
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In 1877, 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.
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On October 21 1879, 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.
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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 were created for the Continental United States.
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The first practical electric trolley (tram) system, and set the pattern for most subsequent electric trolley systems around the world.
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The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts.
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Carnegie Steel Company was formed in 1892 by Andrew Carnegie.
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J.P. Morgan began to control nation’s RRs, and merged RR and Steel industry into one large company. It was the first American company worth more that 1 Billion dollars.
