Vanderbilt, Cornelius(Commodore Vanderbilt)

1794 – He was born this year on the 27th of May in Port Richmond, Staten Island New York.

1810 – By age 16, he was operating his own business, ferrying freight and passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan.

1812 – During this year’s war, he received a government contract to supply the forts around New York City. He operated sailing schooners, which is where he gained his nickname of “Commodore.”

1813 – He married his cousin and neighbor, Sophia Johnson.

1818 - Vanderbilt grew his business and by this year it had grown to be worth $15,000. He turned his attention to steamships. The New York legislature had granted Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston a thirty-year legal monopoly on steamboat traffic.

1829 – He struck out on his own to provide steam service on the Hudson River between Manhattan and Albany, New York.

1840 – By this year, he had 100 steamships plying the Hudson. In addition, it was reputed to have the most employees of any business in the United States.

1844, Vanderbilt was elected as a director of the Long Island Rail Road, which at the time provided a route between Boston and New York City via a steamboat transfer.

1850 - He began investing in railroads.

1857 – He became a director of the New York and Harlem Railroad.
 

1862 - He gained control of the Harlem Railroad.

1871 – He struck up a partnership with the New York and New Haven Railroad to join with the railroads he owned to consolidate operations at one terminal at East 42nd Street called Grand Central Depot, which was the original Grand Central Terminal, where his statue reigns today.

1873 – He had extended the lines to Chicago, Illinois.
 

1877 - He died this year and he is known as one of the centuries greatest fortunes.