9. Cornelius Vanderbilt, the source of the Vanderbilt family fortune, created a near-total monopoly over rail transport in the Eastern United States and earning the equivalent of $215 billion in the process.
Cornelius Vanderbilt (b. 1794) was an American businessman best known for founding the New York Central Railroad. Nicknamed “The Commodore” in later life, Vanderbilt was born in Staten Island to a family of moderate means. Starting his own ferry service at the age of sixteen, Vanderbilt carried freight and passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan. Expanding his operations across the surrounding regions, Vanderbilt ruthlessly absorbed his competitors. Despite this, Vanderbilt successfully used populist language to appear amiable, calling his Hudson River Steamboat Association – a monopoly between New York City and Albany – “The People’s Line”.
Forcibly targeting the stocks of company’s he sought to acquire, Vanderbilt gradually built a colossal empire. Controlling more than a dozen railroad companies spanning the Eastern United States, Vanderbilt controlled a near-monopoly over trains and freight, permitting him to amass a monumental personal fortune. Leaving virtually all of his more than one hundred million dollar estate to his son, William Henry Vanderbilt, offering just $500,000 to his daughters and $200,000 to his youngest son, Cornelius’ estate would today have been valued at approximately $215,000,000,000.
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