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Cornelius Vanderbilt's Birth
May 27, 1794 is the birth date of Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was born in Port Richmond on Staten Island, New York. His parents were Cornelius and Phebe Hand Vanderbilt. -
Quit School
When Cornelius turned 11 he dropped out of school to work for his dad. Ferrying passengers and cargo to and from Manhattan. He later gained a nickname... "Commodore". -
Family
In the year of 1813 of December he married his first cousin named Sophia Johnson... his parents didn't really approve. He had 13 kids, 11 lived to adulthood. He might have been a good business man but he was a horrible husband and father. He cheated on his wife, ignored his daughters because he wanted more than 3 sons, and put one of his sons, Cornelius Jeremiah, into an lunatic asylum twice... then he tried to do the same with his wife... when he took interest in a young governess. -
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Shipping Empire
He made other companies pay him a lot of money to do business elsewhere. Vanderbilt purposefully got in Gibbons way so Gibbons payed him a lot of money to leave. He did this again in the New York region where different companies paid him to leave. One of the last companies was Hudson River Steamboat Association and he was paid 100,000. He didn't get respect though. At the end of this he was paid $40,000 a month to abandon operations. After this he took his family on a trip around Europe(500,000) -
Ships to Railroads
In 1864 Vanderbilt looked at railroads and he got one called New York & Harlem and Hudson Line... which went along a canal called Erie Canal. He then went after the New York Central Railroad. He eventually got control of the railroads from New York City to Chicago. He increased efficiency. -
Retirement
He finally retired from the shipping and when he was done he had accumulated almost $30,000,000. -
Wife's Death
Wife passed in 1868. -
The Grand Central Depot
Cornelius Vanderbilt financed a monument only adding to his already huge empire. It was named the Grand Central Depot. It had things like elevated platforms, glass balloon roof, and it had areas where only people who were boarding could be. It also was underground because the city insisted because it would reduce noise and smoke. -
8-Month Death March
In 1876 Cornelius Vanderbilt became ill and started his 8-month journey to his own death -
Cornelius Vanderbilt's Death
On January 4, 1877 Vanderbilt died.
