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In the same respect as this post, the Golden Age made some insanely wealthy people. If you have ever visited the mansions in Newport, RI, the Breakers is somet
by tmaly 7y ago
In the same respect as this post, the Golden Age made some insanely wealthy people. If you have ever visited the mansions in Newport, RI, the Breakers is something to marvel at.
But what fascinated me more was how Cornelius “the Commodore” Vanderbilt actually built his wealth. If you visit the mansions, they only talk about the social life and everything about the mansions.
But Commodore amassed some like 200 million in that day and age. There was very little regulation, and he fits the mold of someone who with very little education, excelled at business.
- joncrane 7y agoAt The Breakers, all the bathrooms had hot and cold running fresh and salt water. I believe many of the fancy mansions in that area had. I remember visiting on a field trip from nerd sleepaway camp in Massachusetts. As an adult, I could see myself splurging to get running salt water in my seaside mansion. I've always loved salt water.
- tmaly 7y agoPlumbing in general during that age was amazing. I cannot even imagine what it would cost like to build one of those mansions today.
- ghaff 7y agoOne of the things I found interesting about The Breakers is that--hot and cold running water notwithstanding--the living quarters were pretty spartan even by middle class standards today. All the bling was in the public rooms. These were summer "cottages" to be sure and the same dynamics probably didn't apply to their regular homes. Nut I found it interesting nonetheless.
- dsyko 7y agoI'm curious what is the reason for having running salt water? For taking baths?
- joncrane 7y agoOriginally, probably the combination of supposed health effects of bathing in salt water and to flex on the less wealthy. Later, to keep up with the Joneses aka Vanderbilts.
- JackFr 7y ago'When [J.P.] Morgan died in 1913, he had as estate of $80 million, that's $1.2 billion today, as compared to Rockefeller's worth of nearly a billion, that's $l90 billion today. When Rockefeller read this in the papers he supposedly said, "And to think, he wasn't even a rich man."' http://www.learner.org/series/biographyofamerica/prog17/transcript/page03.html http://www.learner.org/series/biographyofamerica/prog17/tran...
- asmithmd1 7y agoCornelius Vanderbilt's story is amazing. He quit school at the age of 11 to work on his father's ferry in New York Harbor. At 16 he started his own ferry moving freight and passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan. He built his fortune by investing in steamships and later railroads