A Virginia farmer invented a mechanical reaper, and then harvested profits in the
Midwest's exploding grain belt, innovating credit, service, and sales practices that became essential parts of American big business.
Family Project
In 1831, twenty-two-year-old Cyrus McCormick took over his father's project of designing a mechanical reaper. Working on his family's
Virginia farm, McCormick implemented features of the machine that remain in use today: a divider, a reel, a straight reciprocating knife, a finger, a platform to catch the cut stalks, a main wheel and gearing, and a draft traction on the front. In 1834, in the face of competition from other inventors, McCormick took out a patent and soon after, began manufacturing the reaper himself.
Midwestern Gamble
The mechanical reaper was an important step in the mechanization of agriculture during the nineteenth century. Before the reaper, the amount of grain that could be cut by hand during the short harvest season limited both food supply and farm sizes. McCormick's reaper would win international acclaim at the first world's fair in London's Crystal Palace, in 1851. It would also free farm laborers to work in factories in the expanding industrial revolution. In the late 1840s, McCormick made a fateful business decision, moving to the young town of Chicago in America's western frontier and gambling that America's agricultural future was in the nation's prairie states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and the territories that would become
Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota. His venture would repay him with a fortune.
"Work, Work, Work"
McCormick single-mindedly devoted himself to work. In 1848 his factory made 500 reapers; in 1851 it produced a thousand; by 1857 it was turning out 23,000. Continuously introducing improvements, McCormick launched new models every year, as car dealers do today. He bought other agricultural patents and companies, expanding his empire to sell mowers, harvesters, and more. He offered money-back guarantees and credit to struggling farmers, saying, "It is better that I should wait for the money than that you should wait for the machine that you need." He established an extensive service organization, staffed with local agents who could befriend farmers, show them how to use the machines, and assess their credit-worthiness. McCormick died in 1884, harddriving to the end; his final words were, "Work, work, work." His company would combine with others to become the International Harvester Company two decades after his death.
Taken from http://www.pbs.org

One of the most prominent figures in the history of Chicago was George Mortimer
Pullman. Born into a lowly carpenter family, Pullman went on to become a widely renowned businessman. He revolutionized train travel by building one of the most luxurious rail cars in American history. Pullman made a fortune by building luxury rail cars and leasing them to rail companies.
Born on March 3, 1831, in Brockton,
New York, George Pullman initially worked as a cabinetmaker in his brother’s shop. His life’s turning point came during the setup of a new sewage system in Chicago, Illinois. The system required the elevation of some buildings. Pullman won a contract for raising the buildings. Using a series of jackscrews, he lifted the buildings with such efficiency and precision that the businesses in those buildings proceeded without any interruption during the elevation work. Pullman won honors for his extraordinary work, and also a good amount of money.
With the newly acquired money,
Pullman, along with his close friend and State Senator Benjamin Field, set up a sleeper rail car company around 1858 in Chicago. Pullman got the idea of building luxury rail cars, following a tiresome rail journey. Those luxury cars contained fine decor and upholstery. The most famous model produced by his company was the Pioneer . That rail car was taller and wider than conventional ones. It attained great fame when
President Abraham Lincoln’s remains were carried to the burial site in that special coach.
Pullman had a unique way of doing business. He did not sell his sleeper cars. Instead, he leased them to the rail companies. Those companies handed over the premium they received from luxury coach passengers. During its peak, Pullman’s company had contracted roughly 2,000 sleeper luxury cars on lease. The company was worth $62 million. The company’s fortune was however short-lived. The recession of 1893 exerted a great effect on it. Production cuts, wage cuts and layoffs were implemented by Pullman, which resulted in a violent strike at his factories in Chicago. Government troops were called in to handle the situation. The incident greatly tarnished Pullman’s reputation and fame.
George Pullman died of a heart attack on October 19, 1897, and was buried at Graceland
Cemetery in Chicago. Owing to the fears that former employees would damage his body, the grave was dug deep and reinforced with concrete and steel. A towering Corinthian column now stands over his grave.
Taken from http://www.u-s-history.com