Name
Key Vocabulary
Oil refinery: a place where crude (raw) oil is processed into usable oil
products such as petroleum or gasoline.
Monopoly: a single corporation that controls all of the supply of a single
good (example – oil).
Robber Baron: a powerful capitalist or industrialist who is considered to
have become wealthy by taking advantage of natural resources, corrupting
politicians, or other unethical means.
Captain of Industry: a title that is used to describe business people who
are especially successful and powerful; they often donate money and give
back to society.
John D. Rockefeller
He was born July 8, 1839 in New York. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the
oil industry. He established his first business dealing in hay, grain, meats and other goods. He built his first oil refinery in
1863. Within two years it was the largest refinery in the area. In 1870, Rockefeller and a few associates started the
Standard Oil Company. By 1872, it controlled nearly all of the refineries in Cleveland and within ten years had a near oil
monopoly in the United States.
The Standard Oil Company was ruthless and Americans did not like it. Rockefeller did not take care of his
workers and did not pay them well. However, in the late 1890s, Rockefeller began donating his money to charities. He
founded the University of Chicago and donated $80 million to the school. He created the Rockefeller Institute for Medical
Research in New York City. During his lifetime, he donated more than $500 million.
Andrew Carnegie
At the age of thirteen, Carnegie came to the U.S. with his family. Carnegie worked in a factory, earning $1.20 a
week. Then he took a job at the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1853. Through this experience, he learned a lot about the
railroad industry and about the railroad business. While working for the railroad, Carnegie began making investments. He
made many wise choices and he made a lot of money. He used that money to begin a steel company. His business became
known as the Carnegie Steel Company. He built plants around the country and used methods that made manufacturing
steel easier, faster, and more productive. By 1889, Carnegie Steel Corporation was the largest corporation in the world.
Some felt that the company mistreated its workers. The most notable case of this came in 1892. The company tried to
lower wages at a Carnegie Steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The employees objected. They refused to work,
starting what has been called the Homestead Strike of 1892. The workers and the managers became violent. Carnegie
sided with the managers. In 1901, Carnegie changed his life. He sold his business for $200 million and decided to spend
his time helping others. Carnegie made numerous other donations.
J.P. Morgan
The son of an international banker, Morgan made successful investment through acquiring assets and
eventually had a fortune that was almost unimaginable at the time. In 1861, he founded his own firm, J.P.
Morgan & Company. Morgan treated his workers very kindly and upon his death and his son’s death each
employee was left money in their will. He left a fortune estimated at $68 million, which was separate from his
collection of fine art. He served as president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to which he gave his extensive
art collection.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius was born in Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York on May 27, 1794. His parents were poor
and his father earned his living by providing low level transportation services. As was usual for the common
people in those days, Cornelius went to work at age 11, and was employed by his father. In 1810, when he was
sixteen years old he convinced his parents to lend him $100 so he could buy a sailboat to start his own ferry and
freight business. Vanderbilt became one of the foremost railroad and shipping tycoons beginning the
construction of Grand Central Terminal in NYC to help thousands of people unemployed find a job. Workers
were paid very little and worked long hours.
Although Vanderbilt had not engaged in philanthropy at all until that point in his life, through his new
wife's influence, he perpetuated his name through a gift of one million dollars to Nashville's Central University.